


Who's an angel?

by sabotenworld



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Crossdressing, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-05-03 04:44:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 19,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5277134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabotenworld/pseuds/sabotenworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Jeonghan is the scantily-clad lead singer for a kinky sex-themed rock band. Not church-going, wholesome boyband member Jisoo's type at all.</p><p>Side chapters are jeongcheol (4) and meanie (8). Meanie chapter contains underage drinking and implied sex, thus the tags.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. this fucking corset

**Author's Note:**

> I'm actually more a JeongCheol fan but omg this plot bunny just kept bugging me.

“Fuck. This fucking corset is fucking slipping off, my tits are gonna spill onstage,” Jeonghan cursed, his thumbs hooked around the corset to pull it up.

The livehouse’s backstage is old and dingy and stinks of beer, but Jeonghan is thankful that their band has been getting more gigs. He plops down next to Mingyu, pushing the other’s long legs away to have more space to him. The couch was all torn up and patched up with duct tape. To make it worse, it was made out of the scratchiest possible material. Jeonghan wished he’d worn another onstage costume, but most of his onstage costumes were similar to the outfit he was currently wearing: tight, lacy corset, panties, stockings (complete with garter belt for added sex) and a pair of stilettos. Really, he’d worn lingerie onstage to make an impression when their band was on the brink of disbanding and were desperate to make an impression on the audience. He had no idea he would still be wearing outfits like this after a year. It was really uncomfortable; his dick hurt and his feet were killing him and the corset was always slipping down, but it was all part of the job.

Mingyu puts down the water bottle he was drinking from and he grins that stupid grin he always has when he thinks he has a good idea. The tall, mysterious, handsome image the dark eye makeup gave him disappeared, and his real personality (childish and really kind of annoying to Jeonghan) showed. “Hey, Big Sis,” he says in a voice too deep for how childish he looks.

Jeonghan looks at him questioningly. He’d gotten used to being called that, however weird it was, him being a guy and all. It was a nickname he called himself onstage. It had just felt right for his scantily clad sex goddess image and it stuck. Now it was what his band mates and their growing following called him affectionately. “Yeah?”

“You should use that for tonight’s emcee.” Mingyu looked proud of himself for coming up with this idea.

“What? My corset’s slipping off?”

“Yeah! The exact thing you said earlier.”

Jeonghan grinned back.

-

“My fucking corset’s fucking slipping off! My tits are gonna fucking spill onstage!” Jeonghan shouted into the mic, earning enthusiastic cheers from the audience as he strutted across the stage. Mingyu looked proud. Jeonghan continued: “Yeah! You assholes fucking make Big Sis wet when you scream! What do you kids want me to do to you, huh?”

‘Spank me, Big Sis’, ‘step on my balls with those stilettos’, ‘spit on me’ were some of the crowd’s suggestions, obscured by how they all cheered at the same time.

“You fuckers don’t fucking deserve anything!”

And this was Seungcheol’s cue to start playing the opening of one of their loudest, most sexual songs.

-

“You guys didn’t do as bad today,” Jihoon compliments them. Their manager never told them they did a good job, he had to insult them in some way.

“I helped make Big Sis’ emcee part,” Mingyu said proudly, earning claps on the back from guitarist Seungcheol and drummer Wonwoo.

“That was fucking disgusting,” Jihoon tsk’ed. He obviously didn’t want to hear about which part Mingyu helped with, focusing on dividing the money they made into stacks on a dirty table in the backstage room (Jihoon’s was always the tallest stack, but they learned never to argue with him).

They all take off their makeup and change into their own clothes, ending up looking like normal human beings again. “Feels good to be in pants and actual men’s underwear,” Jeonghan laughs happily. “Good work today, guys!”

They go once they’ve been paid. He and his bandmates walk out together until where Mingyu and Wonwoo have to go in another direction. Jeonghan was always stuck with Seungcheol on the way home. “Today was fun, huh?” he tells Seungcheol, smiling.

“Yeah.” Seungcheol smiled back. He was kind of quiet tonight, Jeonghan noticed. Seungcheol would always be the one babbling on their way home and not Jeonghan. He must’ve been really tired. “Hey, Jeonghan? I have something to tell you,” Seungcheol says after a while.

“What is it?” He probably was going to confess, Jeonghan thought. He’d known about Seungcheol’s not-so-little crush on him since they were in high school, but Seungcheol never acted out on it.

“I… I don’t think this genre is for me.”

Huh?

“Sorry. This BDSM and overall sexual themed rockband really isn’t my thing. I’m quitting. I actually want to be a rapper!” Seungcheol looked at him and grinned sheepishly. “How does the name ‘S. Coups’ sound? Cool, huh?”

Huuuuuuuuuh?

Jeonghan throws his backpack filled with lingerie at Seungcheol’s face and runs away.


	2. Why don't you just become whores

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jeonghan wakes up in an idol's bed, like every girl's wet dream. Some band angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, hey, a new chapter again. I hope you guys like it! *hides*

He’d gotten them this far. He’d done everything; adopted that kinky onstage persona and worn the most uncomfortable outfits. They were finally kind of selling. Their single was number 2 on the indies chart. And fucking Seungcheol decides to leave.

“FUCK YOU, CHOI SEUNGCHEOL!!” Jeonghan is screaming. He’s having a hard time walking, so he’s steadying himself on a car with one hand. He’d gotten kicked out of three bars already, denied entrance in two. He’d puked at the entrance of one bar that denied him and the door guy had pushed him roughly to the ground. His cheek hurt from getting scraped on the asphalt road. “You fucking asshole! What the fuck is fucking _S. Coups_?!”

He sat down beside the car he had been leaning on, tired. His voice was even hoarser than it had been after their performance earlier. He was so drunk he didn’t notice how much he was crying.

-

Hong Jisoo had just finished jamming with his friends. It was one of those rare off days he had and they were determined to spend it in a fun way. They’d enjoyed it so much that he didn’t notice how it was already four in the morning. He’d panicked about getting no rest and being unable to go to school tomorrow, quickly excusing himself from his friends.

He’d taken the elevator to the ground floor (Seungkwan’s flat was at the seventh floor), remembered that he’d left his guitar, gone back to get it, and was now jogging to where he’d parked his car. Seungkwan was a rich kid, so the parking lot for the building he lived in was full of cars of residents with multiple fancy cars, and Jisoo had to park his car at the next street.

Jisoo finally gets to his car, mumbling a “Thank God” to himself as he opened the back seat door to place his guitar carefully, when he noticed that someone was sitting at the hood of his car.

Jisoo stared. The girl, sitting with her legs stretched out on the floor and with her head leaned against the car hood, was nothing short of beautiful. Her hair was long and blonde and looked very very soft and her face looked smooth and had delicate features and- Jisoo snapped out of it.

“Hey, miss?” He nudged the girl on the shoulder lightly and panicked when her head lolled down and her face almost hit the asphalt, had it not for Jisoo catching her. Jisoo wrinkled his nose. She reeked of beer. “Come on, wake up,” he whispered urgently, shaking her gently. He noticed that her cheek was scratched and bleeding.

“Seungcheol…” the girl was mumbling. “Don’t leave…”

Jisoo blinked. Then he bit his lip and half-dragged, half-carried the girl to the front seat of his car.

-

“Fucking hell…” Jeonghan woke up with a splitting headache. Everything hurt: his body, his throat, and for some reason, his cheek. He touched it to find a gauze pad taped to it. Where had he gotten that wound?

He’d been drinking, he concluded. The feeling of a hangover was something he knew all too well. He wondered if he should call Jihoon to fake sick (he really was sick though, Jeonghan decided) and tell him he couldn’t come to rehearsals later. Then he remembered that he’d left his mobile phone in his backpack and he’d thrown his backpack at Seungcheol’s face and stupid Seungcheol was leaving the band to become a rapper. He scowled. Then he noticed that the bed he was in was too soft to be the old, battered mattress at the room he rented cheap. What the fuck. Where the fuck was he? He forced himself to get up, relieved that his ass didn’t hurt and he hadn’t been raped while he was drunk.

He was in a really clean room. Everything he could see was in order: books on a desk all lined up without a speck of dust anywhere. He went to look at the desk (maybe there was some money or cigarettes he could bum), but instead found a note on a piece of notebook paper:

                _Hi._

_I hope you’re feeling better. You were passed out beside my car and I couldn’t just leave you there, so you’re at my place.There’s some food in the fridge you can microwave. I also bought you some toiletries._

_Hong Jisoo_

_PS. You deserve better than that Seungcheol guy so please stop crying about him. And, please lock up if you leave before I come home._

Jeonghan blinked. The letter writer must’ve thought he was drinking over a break-up. He looked into the plastic bag beside the letter and found some soap, shampoo and conditioner, a toothbrush set, and a pair of disposable panties. He laughed about it for a while before he became curious about this Hong Jisoo.

The name sounded like a girl’s name, but when he looked around the closet he found a bunch of men’s clothes, caps and shoes. Hong Jisoo was probably a tomboy or a guy with a really girly name. He found a towel in the closet and went to find the bathroom.

-

Jisoo can’t wait for this boring lecture to end. He’s tapping his pen on the desk, tapping his foot under the desk as well, and daydreaming. The girl he left at home must’ve gone back to her own place. He hoped he’d left her his number or something so he’d have a chance to meet her again. He wondered if the paparazzi had caught him bringing a girl home. That would be horrible. No one would buy an idol’s excuse that he’d just been a gentleman and brought her home because the streets were dangerous for girls who are alone and he had been worried.

The lecture finally ended, and Jisoo quickly grabs his bag and runs to the door.

“Hey, Jisoo!!” his classmate and fellow idol Soonyoung yells at him. “Why the rush? You got a girl waiting for you at home?”

“Something like that.” Jisoo grins back and runs away from his friends’ yelling (‘WHO?!’, 'WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US?!’).

When Jisoo gets home around lunch time, he’s a little happy that the girl is still in his bed. He thought she hadn’t woken up all day, but she’d changed into one of Jisoo’s old shirts. She stirs a little and cracks an eye open to look up at Jisoo, then smiles as she sits up. She was even prettier when she was awake. Jisoo thought she looked absolutely angelic.

“H-hey,” Jisoo says awkwardly. “I brought lunch in case you were still here, and you’re still here.” The girl laughs at that. Jisoo thinks the sound of it is beautiful.

“Hong Jisoo?” the girl asks. Her voice sounded gentle and soothing and makes Jisoo’s cheeks heat up. “I thought you were some butch lesbian,” she laughs. The words sound uncharacteristic of her whole being, Jisoo thinks. The girl bows. “Thanks for everything.”

-

Over lunch, Jeonghan finds out a lot more about Hong Jisoo than what his apartment unit tells him. Jisoo is apparently called “Joshua” by a lot of people because he grew up in the US, which meant he was fluent in English, his parents are still in the US and he’s living in Korea alone, he learned to play the guitar in church, and he’s in an idol group.

“No shit?” Jeonghan asks him. He notices that Jisoo flinched every time he cursed, and he cursed a lot out of habit. “You’re an idol?”

Jisoo nods shyly, not looking at Jeonghan. “Yeah, we’re not that popular though…”

“Just work hard and you will be, you already have the looks for it,” Jeonghan says through a mouthful of fried rice. “But really, holy shit, ending up in an idol’s bed? That’s like, every girl’s wet dream.” He grins.

“Tell me about you instead,” Jisoo says, embarrassed at being the topic of the conversation.

Jeonghan tells him he’s in a band and that Choi Seungcheol wasn’t his boyfriend like Jisoo thought, and that he wouldn’t date Seungcheol even though he kind of liked guys despite being a guy himself.

Jisoo’s eyes widen at that.

Jeonghan laughs at his reaction. “You thought I was pretty, huh?” Jisoo’s face turns a darker shade of red at that, looking away from Jeonghan. “Don’t worry that I’m turning you gay, a lot of people mistake me for a girl. Thanks for the panties.” He laughs harder.

“S-so you’re in a band,” Jisoo says in an attempt to steer the conversation to a different direction.

“Uh-huh. Our guitarist left to become a rapper. What an idiot. I was depressed about that. Maybe I should play the guitar while singing.” He puts down his empty food container and chopsticks. “Hey, thanks for lunch. I’ll pay you back.”

Jisoo shook his head, saying it was fine, he didn’t have to pay. Jeonghan grins at that. Free food.

“Thanks! Can I borrow some money too? I just need the bus fare to my place. That’s actually why I’m still here. I didn’t have any money to go home, so I just went back to sleep.”

-

As Jeonghan had expected, Jihoon does scream at him the next day when he had gone straight home from Jisoo’s and slept the rest of the day away without calling to cancel rehearsals. What he didn’t expect was that he would cry.

“You want that pretty face of yours to be the only thing that makes this band sell, huh?! Why don’t you just become a fucking whore then, Jeonghan?! Since you aren’t serious about the music part of being in a band!” Jihoon was screaming.

Jeonghan sat in front of him quietly, tears slowly rolling down his cheeks. His shoulders shook and he sniffled every now and then. Mingyu looks like he’s about to cry from the sight and goes over to hug Jeonghan, whispering to him not to cry, and it sounded more like Mingyu was comforting himself. He was like a big slobbery dog, Jeonghan thought, but he appreciated what Mingyu was doing.

“Haven’t you said enough?” Wonwoo says sternly, putting a hand on Jihoon’s shoulder. “We get it. We can’t afford to skip rehearsals. But Jeonghan here has been working hard and putting all his effort into this band. He’s probably just shocked that Seungcheol quit.”

“Whatever,” Jihoon huffs, slapping his hand away, but he no longer had that hostile vibe he had earlier. “I’ll try to find you a new guitarist. If there are actually people who want to join this trashy band.” He walked to the door to leave.

Jeonghan blows his nose (Mingyu apparently has a whole box of tissues in his bag, which Jeonghan finds strange because the kid was always wiping his snot on his pants or on Wonwoo’s shirt), and before Jihoon leaves the room, he says: “I’ll do it. I’ll play fucking Seungcheol’s parts.”

“But then you wouldn’t be able to crack your whip and stuff,” Mingyu says, worried.

“You idiot.” Jeonghan smiles at him, eyes puffy and red. “If we focused more on the sex and less on the music, why don’t we just become whores?”


	3. what the fuck, i'm in a scandal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jisoo's fangirls are devastated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took me so long to come up with something to write OTL. Thanks so much to the people who read this fic! I especially love reading the comments, so please leave comments! :D

Jisoo is sleeping when he’s woken up by loud ringing from his mobile phone. He groans and shoves his head under a pillow, wishing whoever was calling him would give up, but they don’t. He finally gets up to set his phone on silent (he leaves his phone away from his bed so he would be forced to get up), but his eyes snap open when he sees it’s his manager calling.

“Hello?” he quickly answers.

“ _Finally_ , you answer,” his manager hisses. “Emergency meeting. Now. Hurry and get to the company building.”

“Y-yeah, okay,” he panics and trips over himself on his way to the bathroom to wash up.

On his way to their company building, he reads all the unread messages on his phone and sees what the emergency meeting is all about.

 

_Jisoo what the fuck, you have a scandal. The girl looks pretty – Soonyoung_

_Hey, who’s the girl? Does she have any cute friends? – Hansol_

_Never expected you to have a scandal, you’re stealing the limelight! – Seungkwan_

 

There was nothing in Minghao’s text message but a link. Jisoo clicks on it:

_Idol Joshua Hong, not the gentleman he says he is? Caught cozying up to a beautiful blonde late in the night!_

Underneath was a picture of him and Jeonghan. It did look like they were a couple, with Jeonghan’s head against his neck and his arm around Jeonghan’s waist. They looked pretty good together, Jisoo thought. He blushed and decided that he really was just trying to get a drunk guy to his car.

He reads the comments, most of them written by his fangirls who were in utter despair over the news.

 

_I thought we were meant to be together!_

_He’s betrayed us all! He’s not a gentleman at all!_

_The girl is really ugly. Why do you like her and not me, Joshua?_

_I don’t follow this idol group, but the girl looks like Big Sis Jeonghan._

Jisoo blinked. Big Sis Jeonghan? Must be his stage name he uses, he was in a band after all. But it was… Weird. He looked for more comments that recognized Jeonghan.

                _That looks like Big Sis Jeonghan! Why does this idol get to touch him with his dirty paws?_

_Is the idol a fan of Big Sis Jeonghan? I want to cuddle with Big Sis too!_

                _The idol is totally not a gentleman if he’s a fan of Cherry Burst._

Cherry Burst? Was that the name of Jeonghan’s band? Jisoo wondered what kind of music they played.

-

Jisoo is alone in the meeting room, getting yelled at by their manager. Their CEO is with them and Jisoo is more nervous about what he has to say than what his manager is saying, but the CEO is just watching the whole scene quietly.

“You’ve just debuted and you go around playing with girls, is this what you should be doing?” their manager is screaming at him. “You should be focusing on practicing!"

“Please let me explain,” Jisoo says in a small voice.

“You played around with girls! There’s photographic evidence! Do you want your idol image ruined because of-“

“Let him explain,” the CEO interrupts calmly, and the manager shuts up. “Are you dating that girl, Jisoo?”

“That was a guy!” Jisoo blurts out. The CEO and manager stared at him with wide eyes. And he tells them how he took Jeonghan home because he was too drunk to be alone, and that Jeonghan was a guy in a band and some netizens recognized him from the picture.

The CEO nods after he’d finished his story. “Do you know how to contact this guy? We need to hold a press conference.”

If Jisoo swore, he would’ve sworn by now.

-

“I don’t have a cellphone now. I don’t think I’ll be getting it back, it was in the bag I threw at Seungcheol’s face,” Jeonghan had said before he left. Jisoo tried not to let his disappointment show. “I’ll just give you my manager’s number for if you ever want to contact me.”

Jisoo rummaged through his wallet for the piece of paper with a Lee Jihoon’s number written on it.

-

The music studio they practiced at was small and infested with all sorts of insects and just absolutely disgusting in general, but it was all they could afford. Jeonghan scrunched his nose as he walked into it, squeezing himself into the narrow door frame with the guitar he’d had since high school. He hadn’t even checked if it still worked. 

“Hey Jeonghan, this guy called asking for you earlier,” Jihoon tells him.

“Yeah? Who?” Jeonghan put his guitar down on a table. “It wasn’t some creep asking for some of my hair again, was it?”

Jihoon shook his head. “He seemed normal. He said his name was Hong Jisoo and that you should call him back as soon as possible. It seemed pretty urgent to me.”

“Oh, the idol guy.” What could Jisoo want? He probably wanted a date, Jeonghan concluded. Jisoo seemed straight but he noticed that he was flustered around Jeonghan.

“Idol?” Jihoon asks, eyes narrowed. “Since when have you hung out with idols?” Mingyu and Wonwoo look interested.

“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you after I call him,” Jeonghan says. He realizes he doesn’t have a cellphone to call. “Can I use your phone?” he asks Jihoon.

“Use your own. I don’t want you messing up my bill,” Jihoon snaps. What a bitch, Jeonghan thinks.

“I don’t have it. I think it’s with Seungcheol. And there’s no way I’m going to him to get it.”

“Was it in the bag you threw at his face?”

“Yeah. What the fuck, he told you about that?”

“He brought it to me. His lip was busted, I think the cellphone in your bag hit him,” Jihoon says. Mingyu and Wonwoo laugh. “Your bag’s in the locker. And wash all those disgusting lingerie in your bag already, you’re gross.”

Jeonghan grins and goes to where the building’s lockers are located. He rummages through his bag (Jihoon was right, all these used lingerie were disgusting, he would probably have to do the laundry later) and finds his cellphone. He sees that Jihoon had called him 78 times since he’s lost his phone, probably why Jihoon was so mad at him for missing rehearsals. He dials the number Jihoon had given him on a piece of paper.

Jisoo picks up after one ring. “Hello?” He did sound flustered.

“Hi, it’s Yoon Jeonghan,” Jeonghan greets. “The, um… Drunk guy.”

“Jeonghan!” Jisoo sounded relieved that he’d called. It was kind of cute, Jeonghan thought. “I need a really, _really_ important favor from you, please.” Jisoo pleaded.

“Yeah?” Jeonghan wondered what it was he could do for an idol. “What is it?”

“I need to hold a press conference with you.”

“Huh?”

“Have you seen the news article? The paparazzi caught me with you and made it look like you were my girlfriend.”

-

“Guys, what the fuck, I’m in a scandal!” Jeonghan says loudly and somewhat excitedly as he barges into the rehearsal room again. Mingyu, Wonwoo and Jihoon crowd around him as he shows them the news article on his phone.

“Who the fuck is that?” Wonwoo asks.

“How do you know an idol?” Mingyu asks. Jeonghan tells them how he was drunk and how Jisoo was nice and took him home to his bed and fed him.

“You fucking whore,” Jihoon says. “What did he want?”

“That’s what I was gonna ask you about,” Jeonghan answers. “He wants to hold a press conference with me so the world would know I was a guy and so he could save his pure idol image.”

“Press conference?” Jihoon had a very, very creepy smile on his face and it made all three of the band members squirm in their seats. Jihoon always looked like this when he had some evil scheme, and all of Jihoon’s evil schemes were either embarrassing or immoral. “Let’s do it.”


	4. what are you listening to?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A prequel: the history of Jeonghan's band, which began when he was in high school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really ship JeongCheol and couldn't help but add it in omg sorry JiHan fans.

Choi Seungcheol played sports like basketball and soccer and was the only student exempted from the each student can only join one school club rule. Yoon Jeonghan drew pictures and played the guitar.

Choi Seungcheol hung out with the jocks and the older kids and the younger kids; everyone, really. Yoon Jeonghan hung out with delinquents and the guy who’s repeating senior year this year.

Choi Seungcheol wore his hair cropped short and in its natural black color. Yoon Jeonghan had long hair, dyed blonde.

Choi Seungcheol had lots of muscle in his arms and legs and everywhere, really. Yoon Jeonghan was slender.

Choi Seungcheol was someone people thought was a really cool guy. Yoon Jeonghan thought he wasn’t shit.

-

Jeonghan is listening to music on his somewhat ratty headphones. They’d been given a self-study session (“But I’m staying right here,” the young and pretty but oh so bitchy substitute teacher said, sitting down at the teacher’s desk and continuing to text her boyfriend), and he’d decided to spend it on doing his homework so he wouldn’t have to that night. He wanted to have time for practicing guitar.

He’s interrupted when the girl in front of him passes him a note and quickly retracts her hand back, looking scared. Jeonghan’s used to that type of treatment, but he isn’t used to getting notes.

_What are you listening to? - Seungcheol_

Seungcheol? He looks at Choi Seungcheol, who is four seats away from him diagonally, but looking at him and grinning like they were the closest friends ever. He even gave Jeonghan a little wave. Jeonghan gave him a stern look and went back to his homework. How annoying. Seungcheol was the irritating type that just wanted a lot of friends and doesn’t really connect to anyone deeply, Jeonghan thought, and he’d rather have a small group of friends than be like Seungcheol.

Jeonghan crumples the note. He definitely doesn’t want to be a part of Choi Seungcheol’s collection of friends.

-

“Jeonghan, right?” It’s stupid fucking Choi Seungcheol, grinning beside him as he changed his school shoes to go home. “You didn’t reply to my note earlier.” He pouted.

“Why’d you write to me? We aren’t friends,” Jeonghan says casually as he ties his sneakers’ laces.

“That’s exactly why! You seem real cool so I want to hang out with you and—“

“Bye.”

Jeonghan had grabbed his bag and guitar case and marched off unceremoniously without looking back. He missed seeing Seungcheol looking confused and a little sad.

-

Seungcheol greets him enthusiastically everyday and comes to hang out by his desk to chat, but it’s Seungcheol who does most of the talking and Jeonghan just nods.

“Who’s that guy? He’s so hot! His hair is gorgeous!”

“That’s Yoon Jeonghan. He looks good but he hangs out with a bad crowd, you know, those delinquent seniors. I hear they sell drugs and do lots of illegal stuff…”

Jeonghan was used to hearing people talk about him like that when he’d pass by them at school. He’d gotten past the stage of picking fights with anyone who did and just ignored them lately. He knew he and his group of friends had never experimented with drugs (yet), but they smoked and drank despite being underage. Let them talk, he thought, his female schoolmates needed something to talk about besides their idol groups anyway.

“Eh?” A deep voice Jeonghan’s gotten familiar with butts into the girls’ conversation. “I don’t think he’s like that though.” What the fuck was Choi Seungcheol up to again?

“You know him, Seungcheol?” one of the girls asked.

“I kinda do, but he doesn’t really talk to me that much, I think he doesn’t like me.” The way Seungcheol says it makes Jeonghan feel a little guilty. Jeonghan takes a glance at them and sees Seungcheol’s eyes light up as he continues: “He’s pretty cool! I heard him play the guitar once and it was awesome. I hope he teaches me sometime.”

Jeonghan decides that Seungcheol isn’t so bad.

-

Seungcheol comes to his desk to greet Jeonghan good morning as usual, and he greets Seungcheol with a light slap to the face with a thin, dog-eared book before handing it to him. Seungcheol stares at the book, then at Jeonghan.

“Guitar for Beginners,” Jeonghan says. “You wanted to learn, right? I’ll teach you today after school if you like.”  
He kind of regrets trying to be nice to Seungcheol as he’s tackled into a bone-crushing hug and his hair is being ruffled violently.

“Thank you, Jeonghan!!”

-

Jeonghan thinks Seungcheol is actually kind of cool, once you got to know him. He was focused on picking up what Jeonghan taught him and really practiced at home.

His delinquent senior bros loved Seungcheol, for some reason (fucking Seungcheol and his people skills, Jeonghan thought), and even asked him to play in their band with Jeonghan once he was really good.

Seungcheol does end up becoming really good at playing after a few months and their band ends up popular because Seungcheol had a lot of friends who he invited to their small-time bar gigs. Jeonghan and his friends even end up with a better reputation as people because of nice-to-everyone Seungcheol, and Jeonghan tries to get used to people approaching him.

-

“Hey, what do you plan on doing after we graduate?” Seungcheol asks. They were sitting at the rooftop, the sky gray and threatening to rain on them and kill the cigarette Jeonghan was smoking.

There were only the two of them now. It’s been like this for a year, since their senior friends had graduated and managed to find jobs that kept them too busy to play in a band. Jeonghan and Seungcheol still practiced playing the guitar, despite not being in a band, hoping they’d form one with new members soon.

“I don’t know,” Jeonghan answers truthfully. Now that they were graduating in a month, Jeonghan understood how his senior friends had felt: scared and uncertain about the future.

“You think we could continue?”

Jeonghan looks at Seungcheol before taking another drag. “Music?”

“Yeah.”

“You wanna?”

“Yeah.” Seungcheol smiles. “I want to still be with you after graduation.”

Jeonghan looked at him, but Seungcheol was smiling sheepishly with his eyes to the floor. Was that a confession?

“Let’s aim for our future band to become a successful one!” Seungcheol continues in his enthusiastic voice. But the weather is gloomy and it seemed to affect Seungcheol as well, and he sighs and slumps back onto the concrete floor.

“Yeah.”

They sit in silence for a while. There’s a strong gust of wind and Jeonghan’s hair is messed up, his cigarette blown off from between his fingers. Jeonghan shrugs; it was almost a stub anyway. Seungcheol takes off a hair tie from his wrist, he always has them ready for Jeonghan, and hands it to Jeonghan. Jeonghan takes it with the hand he has a new cigarette in, placing the cigarette between his lips while he tied his hair back.

“What’s that taste like anyway?” Seungcheol asks as he lit up the cigarette between Jeonghan’s lips. He never smoked, but he always had a lighter with him, just like the hair ties on his wrist that he would never need for his own hair. For Jeonghan.

Jeonghan blows a puff of smoke away from him before signaling for Seungcheol to come closer. He takes a drag and cups Seungcheol’s nape with his hand, pressing his lips against Seungcheol’s and exhaling just a little of the smoke into his mouth before pulling away. It makes Seungcheol cough anyway, and Jeonghan doesn’t know if the older boy’s face is red because of the smoke or him.

Their first and last kiss.

“How was it? Was the taste gross?” Jeonghan asks casually, grinning.

Seungcheol smiles back, cheeks still pink. “It’s not so bad.”

They never talk about it.

-

Life after graduation is hard. They have to do several part-time jobs in order to survive and continue with the band at the same time. They hang out at bars to meet other musicians, hoping they would find others to form a band with. It was easy with Seungcheol’s people skills, and they end up forming several bands, with several member line-up and name changes.

They meet Mingyu and Wonwoo hanging out at bars like they were, trying to find other people to work with. Their band gets popular and then falls to the deepest pits of unpopularity until Jeonghan wears lingerie onstage out of desperation.

The lingerie was a good idea; they even get signed with a little indies company and get a manager that finds them gigs.

-

Jeonghan looked back on all of this. Seungcheol leaving them really did feel like a break-up.


	5. his smile is diabolical

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon is a scary manager.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to the sweet people who read this story and leave kudos and comments! I am a whore for comments. I read the comments I get again and again. They make me happy, please comment. *_*

“Why do I even need makeup for this costume?” Jeonghan complained. He’d gotten some of the eyeshadow in his left eye and it stings. He dabs his watery eyes with a tissue in order to not mess up his makeup even further. “It’s going to be covered anyway, why?”

“Shut up, your head thing might come off and you’ll look like shit onstage,” Wonwoo tells him calmly, makeup already perfect as Mingyu styled his hair. They didn’t have any stylists so they did their own hair and makeup. They were lucky Mingyu was pretty good at doing hair.

Mingyu stares at his work in the mirror, hands on Wonwoo’s shoulders and smiling proudly. He leans his cheek towards Wonwoo to get a quick kiss from the older man, his smile widening when Wonwoo complies.

Jeonghan was a bunny today and Mingyu and Wonwoo were magicians. It was a pretty fun theme (Jihoon had thought of it, he liked those magical youthful themes, Jeonghan noticed, what a pervert), he just had to make horny bunny jokes and say things about hopping on the audience’s magic sticks. The costume was a problem though. Besides his usual lingerie he had a little bunny tail above his ass that made it hard to sit down and a [lace bunny headdress](http://img.banggood.com/images/upload/2014/10/SKU172003%20%282%29.jpg) that covered his eyes and obstructed his view.

“ _Don’t_ mess up your hair,” Mingyu whines at Jeonghan. But Jeonghan puts the headdress on wrong and takes it off, messing up the beautifully ironed hair Mingyu had slaved on and Mingyu screams, running up to him with his comb to try and save his work.

-

“Big Sis is playing the guitar today,” Jeonghan yells at the crowd. It was their first live show after Seungcheol had left them. The crowd cheers and tells him he looks hot and to smash their balls with the guitar, please. “Why do I have to play the guitar? Because fuck Seungcheol! Really, fuck that asshole!”

-

When Jeonghan can finally see normally again, without the stupid lace flowers in front of his eyes, Jihoon comes up to him.

“I talked to Hong Jisoo’s manager,” Jihoon says. “We’ll meet them tomorrow to talk about the press conference.

“Yeah?” Jeonghan scrubs at his face with his fifth makeup wipe of the night. His eyeliner still left annoying specks and he gave up, he’ll just wash it off at home. “We’re actually doing it?”

“Yeah, we’ll meet them for lunch tomorrow. Wear something not trashy and don’t embarrass me,” Jihoon tells him. Jeonghan thought about the clothes at home, wondering if he actually had anything not trashy.

He calls Jisoo after he’s gotten home and taken a bath and gotten rid of the eyeliner smudges.

“Hi, are you awake?” Jeonghan asks when Jisoo picks up. A stupid question, really, how could Jisoo even answer if he was asleep.

“Yeah. Hi, Jeonghan.” Jisoo sounded as kind and sparkly as ever. “How have you been?” _So polite_ , Jeonghan thinks.

“Okay, I guess,” Jeonghan says as he munched on a Pepero stick. “I’m getting the hang of playing the guitar again.”

“Yeah? Have you made up with your former guitarist?”

“Nah. He must be mad at me.” Jeonghan chuckles into his mobile phone. “I busted his lip when I threw my bag at him.”

He expects Jisoo to laugh as well, but Jisoo is quiet for a while. Probably not the type that found violence funny.

“You still there?” Jeonghan asks.

“Yeah, sorry.” Jisoo says quickly. He clears his throat. “You should talk to him.”

Jeonghan raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Well…” Jisoo took a deep breath. “I also work with a group, and a lot of members have left. I’m still in contact with them, because I guess working in a group makes them still part of the family.”

“Ohh,” Jeonghan nodded unconsciously in agreement, then realized it was a stupid thing to do when you were talking to someone on the phone. “I guess you’re right. I’ve known the guy since high school anyway.”

“That’s amazing,” Jisoo says. “You’re really lucky that you’re still in contact with a high school friend. I went to high school in the US so I don’t really get to see my friends.”

Jeonghan thought about it for a while. “I’ll call him,” he decides.

“That’s good.” He can imagine Jisoo’s idol smile through the phone.

“Jisoo?”

“Yes?”

“See you tomorrow. Good night!”

“Good night.”

Jeonghan hangs up and presses the speed dial to call Seungcheol. It rings a few times before Seungcheol’s voice tentatively answers.

“Hello? Jeonghan?”

“Hey, we haven’t talked in weeks.” Jeonghan smiles sheepishly. “How have you been doing?”

“Okay I guess,” Seungcheol says. He sounds cautious, like he was choosing his words carefully so as not to offend Jeonghan. “How about you?”

“Fine. We didn’t get a new guitarist. I’m playing your parts now.”

“Oh.”

An awkward silence.

“Cheol?”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry. For being an asshole about you leaving,” Jeonghan says softly. “Are you mad at me?”

“Me? No!!” Seungcheol says in protest. “I thought _you_ were mad. I ditched you guys after all. Glad to hear you guys are doing okay. I’m sorry, Jeonghan.”

“It’s fine,” Jeonghan says, smiling. “You do whatever you want to do.”

“Thanks.”

They talk for a while, about Jeonghan’s scandal (Seungcheol turned out to be a fanboy of the rapper member of Jisoo’s idol group, Hansol), Seungcheol’s part-time pizza guy job, Mingyu and Wonwoo, and some high school memories.

“Cheol?”

“Yeah?”

“You liked me back in high school, didn’t you?”

Seungcheol laughs. “Yeah. I was totally in love with you.”

“I knew it,” Jeonghan says victoriously. “Why didn’t you do anything about it?”

“I dunno, I guess I was scared it would ruin our friendship,” Seungcheol admits. “Did I actually have a chance?”

“No.”

They laugh about it.

“Did you get over me though?” Jeonghan asks curiously.

“Yeah. I’ve liked someone else for a while now.” Seungcheol continues dreamily: “He’s really pretty and has the most beautiful smile in the world and is so hardworking.”

Jeonghan racked his brain for people who had beautiful smiles but could only think of Jisoo and himself. “Who’s that?” he asks, giving up. “Do I know him?”

“Uh-huh. Jihoon.”

“Jihoon?! That little bitch?!” Jeonghan yells into the phone, making Seungcheol laugh. The next-door neighbor bangs his palm against Jeonghan’s wall, so he says more quietly: “He’s pure evil!! His smile is diabolical!”

“He’s adorable,” Seungcheol says dreamily.

“How can your tastes downgrade like that, first you like me and then fucking Jihoon,” Jeonghan says in disbelief. Then he remembers he has to attend a dumb meeting tomorrow. “Hey, Cheol, I gotta go. We’re meeting that idol about that press conference tomorrow.”

“Okay. Good night, Jeonghan.”

“Wait. Cheol? You still there?”

“Yeah?”

“Good luck on your career,” Jeonghan says sincerely, smiling. “Let me hear you rap sometime.”

-

 

Jihoon does look pretty cute the next day, when he arrives to pick up Jeonghan in a tailored business suit. Jeonghan snaps a photo when Jihoon isn’t looking and sends it to Mingyu with the caption ” _Cute. He looks like a ringbearer at a wedding."  
_

Jeonghan doesn’t look trashy, he hopes. He’s wearing one of the button-down shirts he secretly bummed from Wonwoo when Jeonghan visited his place, thinking it would look nice on him.

They meet Jisoo and his manager at a stylish café, Jeonghan somewhat worried that they’d have to pay for their own meals (he could only afford McDonald’s with the money he had right now). Jisoo’s manager explains what they had to do and say at the press conference, everyone else silent and Jisoo smiling and sneaking glances at Jeonghan sheepishly the whole time.

“50 million won,” Jihoon says after the other manager finishes, voice flat. Jeonghan’s head snaps to look at him, eyes wide. Jihoon folds his arms across his chest and leans back against the chair. “That’s our fee for this press conference.”

“H-hey Jihoon,” Jeonghan whispers in panic. “Isn’t that a bit too much?”

Jihoon ignores him to stare at the manager seriously.

The manager stares back, then chuckles. “A lot of spunk you got there for a manager at a small indies label, Mr. Lee. We’re giving your band media exposure and you’ll be benefiting a lot from this. Isn’t that enough?”

“50 million. Take it or leave it. I’m sure that’s just chump change to your company, considering how successful it is, Mr. Han.”

Damn, Jihoon was scary, Jeonghan thought. The whole situation was scary. This manager guy worked for a huge-ass record label and could probably sue the shit out of them for extortion if they felt like-

“Deal.”

What the fuck? Jisoo’s manager actually went along with it? Jeonghan stared at Jihoon, who was smirking and gripping Jisoo’s manager’s hand in a business-y handshake.

-

“Fucking hell, Jihoon. I was so scared they would sue our asses for extortion. You’re a demon,” Jeonghan accused once they were in Jihoon’s car to go home. “Don’t do that again!”

“Fuck you. I got us money,” Jihoon replies, eyes on the road driving. He really did look like a kid, it didn’t seem right that he was driving, Jeonghan thought. “Cha-ching,” Jihoon says cutely, uncharacteristic of him. Jeonghan wants to tease him about it but decides that being in Jihoon’s car with Jihoon on the wheel was already dangerous enough.

“Oh. I didn’t get to talk to Jisoo.” Jeonghan smiles as he types a short “ _I talked to him. You give the best advice. Thanks!”_ text and sends it to Jisoo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, I dunno why there are so many pairings now (Jeongcheol, Jicheol and Meanie). Thank you for reading!


	6. lips glossy from grease

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeonghan realizes that 50 million won doesn't come easily, but it's actually kind of fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FUCK THIS CHAPTER IS SO BAD /hides

Hansol, Seokmin, Seungkwan, Minghao and Soonyoung are watching something on a laptop when Jisoo arrives at the dance studio for their practice. The other members live at the dorm most days, while Jisoo insisted on going home to his own place after long days of practicing.

Jisoo wondered what it was they were watching. He couldn't tell by their facial expressions, as they varied: Minghao and Hansol look shocked, Seungkwan looked dramatic as usual, and Soonyoung and Seokmin were laughing their heads off. Jisoo sees Chan huddled in another corner, hugging his knees and looking pitiful and left out.

"What's wrong?" Jisoo asks as he approached Chan, sitting down beside him and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "Are they leaving you out?"

"It's okay, hyung." Chan gives him a weak smile, but hugs him. "They're looking at things they say I'm too young to look at."

"HYUNG! You're here! Check this out!" Soonyoung's motioning for him to come to them, so he pulls his arm away from Chan, giving the boy an affectionate pat on the head and vowing to scold the other members for whatever they were looking at.

"I found it earlier!" Hansol tells him, eyes wide. "I was curious about that guy you're doing the press conference with."

Jisoo takes the earphones that Minghao hands him and puts each bud in his ear. Hansol plays the video and Jisoo realizes how this wasn't Chan-appropriate.

It was a video of Jeonghan on a stage, wearing a tight corset, thigh-high stockings and stilettos, with a whip in his hand.

That wasn't even the inappropriate part. Jeonghan was screaming all sorts of sexual things (Jisoo didn't even understand most of the words he used, what was a 'rim job'?) at an enthusiastic audience, the audience replying things Jisoo wished he could un-hear (really, why would anyone want their balls stepped on?).

"You're going to do a press conference with this pervert, I'm worried about you," Seungkwan says with his mocking sad face once the video ends, patting Jisoo's arm.

Jisoo didn't know what to think. He didn't know Jeonghan well enough to defend him from being called a pervert, he'd only met him a couple of times, but he still didn't want anyone talking like that about him. He stayed quiet instead, hoping his face would stop burning up.

"The concept is pretty good," Soonyoung says thoughtfully, grinning. He adds: "I might use that S&M theme for our next song's choreography!" earning protests from all the other members. Poor Chan felt left out.

-

Yoon Jeonghan did not enjoy English classes in high school. He didn't understand the whole point of it; why he would have to learn the language when he didn't have any intention of leaving his country? So he didn't attend most of his English classes, almost having to repeat senior year. Luckily, the English teacher was kind and just made him do special projects to pass the class.

He didn't know his lack of interest would come to bite him in the ass years later.

"How old are you?" Jihoon asks in English.

 "I have absolutely no idea what you just-" Jeonghan's eyes water as Jihoon pinches his arm again. "Jihoon, can't we stop this," he pleads.

"I thought I told you to study by yourself," Jihoon says, exasperatedly putting down the English textbook he was holding. "Come on, it's a week away. 50 million won doesn't come easily."

"But why did we agree to that story? It's terrible." Really, why would Jisoo's manager think a story of him and Jisoo being childhood friends back when they lived in America was any good? Jeonghan had to at least be able to converse in English if that story was to be believable.

"I give up. You study by yourself. You better be ready the next time I see you," Jihoon says. He wasn't being mean today, Jeonghan thought. Or maybe he'd just stopped being mean with his words because he'd let out all the meanness by pinching Jeonghan's arm so hard every time he couldn't answer in English that it caused bruises. Jihoon gets up to leave the small family restaurant, but turns to Jeonghan at the last minute. "Hey, why don't you try asking Hong Jisoo to teach you?"

-

Hong Jisoo finally gets some free time in his busy schedule, after juggling university and vocal practice and dance practice and recording for Sm17e's comeback single, to meet up with Jeonghan for English lessons. Apparently, the tiredness shows.

“You look like shit,” Jeonghan tells him when Jisoo opens the door to his apartment. “Do you even sleep? Jesus Christ, look at those eyebags.”

Jisoo chuckles, not surprised to hear Jeonghan curse anymore. “Yeah, I’m pretty tired, huh?” Jeonghan hands him a huge paperbag which emitted a smell that made Jisoo realize he hadn’t eaten anything all day. “What’s this?”

“Chicken. A whole bucket.”

Jisoo’s eyes light up.

“I don’t know if you idols can eat this greasy stuff but this was all I could afford so-“

“I love chicken, Jeonghan,” Jisoo gushes, eyes looking at the chicken-bringer in admiration.

Jeonghan smiles back and Jisoo remembers that Jeonghan was a person (and a very attractive one at that), and not just someone who brought him chicken, and that he was smiling too admiringly that it was probably inappropriate, so he looks away. “Let’s eat first?” Jeonghan asks, and Jisoo’s all too enthusiastic.

After they’ve eaten, Jisoo realizes just how… he didn’t want to think _hopeless,_ but that was the word that came to him when he assessed Jeonghan’s English ability.

“What’s your name?” Jisoo asks in English, expecting Jeonghan to know some basic phrases.

Jeonghan gives him a blank stare before replying in Korean “I have no idea what you just said.”

For some reason Jeonghan only knows dirty words (“I know ‘fuck me’ and ‘ass’, but that isn’t very useful for a press conference”) and has a hard time absorbing the normal words, but Jisoo somehow manages to teach him the basics (“Hello, my name is Yoon Jeonghan”, “I am fine, thank you”).

“Do you ever listen to English songs?” Jisoo asks calmly when Jeonghan looks like he’s bored out of his mind and messing up his hair in frustration.

“Not much,” Jeonghan mumbles miserably. He’s burying his face in one of the throw pillows on Jisoo’s couch where they were sitting side by side. Jisoo gets his guitar from beside his bed and sits down cross-legged on the carpet beside the couch. Jeonghan lifts his eyes from the throw pillow when Jisoo strums his guitar and starts singing:

                _You run your fingers across my lips_

_No I’ve never felt like this before_

_Well I know I’m young but I’ve known love_

_And I know I’d know an angel if I saw one_

“Hey, why’d you stop,” Jeonghan scolds when Jisoo stops singing. “You’re great! Your voice is nice.”

“Thanks,” Jisoo says, feeling his cheeks heat up. He’s used to singing in front of people, but he’d never gotten used to getting compliments on his singing. “Did you understand any of the words?”

“I know ‘no’,” Jeonghan says, laughing. “And ‘angel’. I was ironically born on October 4th, so I’m as close to angel as you can get.” He laughs harder.

Jisoo can’t help but laugh as well (especially remembering the video he’d been shown by his fellow members) before translating the song lyrics to Jeonghan slowly so he can pick up more words, then continuing to sing more of his favorite song and then translating again.

“I saw your band’s videos,” Jisoo says once they’re finished with the song. He’d been thinking about it the whole time, and he was unable to contain his curiosity anymore.

“Yeah?” Jisoo didn’t expect Jeonghan to be capable of looking embarrassed, but the long-haired man’s face turns a shade pinker and runs a hand through his hair. “It’s kind of embarrassing. I don’t think it’s your thing at all. Church oppa.” He laughs awkwardly.

“Do you like... what you’re doing?” Jisoo can’t help but ask.

“The lingerie?” Jeonghan laughs, seemingly over his embarrassment. “Wearing that stuff is pretty much a pain in the ass. I actually started wearing it when we were doing so bad we were thinking of quitting and finding actual jobs.

“But I didn’t want an actual job. I wanted to make music. No matter how embarrassing it is, I’d do it if I get to stand on stage and make music.” The smile Jeonghan shows for a few seconds makes Jisoo’s chest tighten. He turns to Jisoo, grinning. “Stupid, huh? But I’m happy with my band. Everyone else is an idiot and Jihoon is one scary bitch, but I’m happy.”

Jisoo stares at him for a while, admiring the other’s openness about his love for music. Then he bursts into uncontrollable laughter, clutching his stomach and rolling on the carpet.

Jeonghan looks embarrassed again, cheeks flushed. “Ah, why’d I even tell you,” he complains. “I’m never opening up to you again. So judgmental.”

“It’s just that, I didn’t think I’d be able to relate to you after watching that video. We just seemed so different.” Jisoo calms down and wipes the tears that had pooled in his eyes with his hand. He smiles at Jeonghan. “Actually, I didn’t want to be an idol either. I wanted to make music, but never once did I dream of becoming an idol. I’m pretty awkward at dancing, and the fanservice idols have to do on TV is always so embarrassing. I got scouted though, and I thought it would be my last chance at having a career in music, so I ended up like this.”

Jeonghan starts laughing and Jisoo still finds it as beautiful as the first time he heard Jeonghan laugh, even if this time he knows that Jeonghan is a guy.

“One of your songs I really liked,” Jisoo tells him, remembering one of the multiple Cherry Burst videos he watched when he was alone without Seungkwan around to judge him. Jeonghan’s voice was soft and sweet in that song, his hips swaying to the beat, and not one word of profanity coming from his lips. “The jazz one with the sad lyrics.”

“Oh, Wonwoo wrote that,” Jeonghan says through a mouthful of their leftover chicken from earlier. He swallows, lips glossy from the grease. “Our drummer. He’s always sad. He was a little happy when the song was number 2 on the indies hit list that month though,” he says proudly.

“That’s awesome!”

Jisoo thought underground artists were cool. He was kind of a hipster, though he didn’t proclaim it. He was always watching unknown Youtube artists and admiring their songs more than he liked the mainstream pop songs. He didn’t understand why those songs were more popular than the stuff that he listened to.

Now he admired Jeonghan more than ever. He wasn’t some kinky pervert who wore lingerie and was into BDSM like how Jisoo’s band members thought. He was someone who would go to such desperate lengths that Jisoo could never imagine ever doing himself, just to continue making music.

He was a person with passion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Jisoo sings is "Gentlemen Don't" by Gabe Bondoc. He loves the song irl. Jisoo in this fic is pretty much Jisoo in Seventeen, not much AU in him.
> 
> The Cherry Burst song that Jisoo likes I imagine to be similar to the song "Shuumaku no Waltz" by Kalvary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ctevEzP_3k) or . Give it a listen! idk it seems like Jeonghan would suit jazzy songs like that.
> 
> And this chapter is so shitty, I apologize D:


	7. all trashy on tv

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 50 million won press conference.

To make the "we've been friends since Jisoo lived in America" scenario more believable, Jisoo and Jeonghan are required to hang out more. It's pretty fun for the both of them, like they were being given paid leaves to do nothing but bum around in Jisoo's apartment.

Jeonghan insists on watching videos of Jisoo's idol group on Youtube instead of the obscure YouTube artists that Jisoo wants to watch.

"What the hell was that aegyo," Jeonghan cackles as Jisoo hides his face in his hands. "You do some pretty embarrassing stuff!"

"Says the one who wears lingerie and sings about whipping people's asses," Jisoo shot back, sitting up haughtily like he was proud of his comeback.

Jeonghan raised an eyebrow before grinning. So this guy wasn't just all sparkles and being gentlemanly and proper, he knew how to stand up for himself too. Or maybe he was just getting comfortable around Jeonghan?

-

Eleven in the morning is Jeonghan's usual time to get up, but today a car's horn forces him to part with his ratty old futon a whole thirty minutes earlier. He peeks through the small window to see a black car and that familiar mop of cotton candy pink hair.

"Jihoon, what the fuck?!" he yells down from the second floor of the apartment complex. His neighbors yell at him to shut up and he feels embarrassed, but he thinks Jihoon's honking his car horn was even more obnoxious than he was.

"Get in the car, loser," Jihoon yells back. "We're going shopping."

For some reason Jihoon becomes nice enough to take him shopping for a brand new suit ("If you fuck up that press conference and we don't get paid the whole 50 million, you're paying me back."), and Jeonghan doesn't have to worry about sneakily taking Wonwoo's office wear since he was the only one he knew who worked a proper job.

-

It's the day of the press conference and Jisoo's already had his makeup done and his hair styled up away from his face when Jeonghan and Jihoon arrive. Jeonghan is awed by how high the quality of his makeup is, but also kind of misses Jisoo's usual dark circles and beauty marks.

"Hey," Jisoo greets him from the makeup chair with a smile. He looked more idol-like today, Jeonghan thought.

"I'm pretty nervous," he tells Jisoo.

"Just relax and be yourself and say what sounds appropriate," Jisoo tells him with a smile, but Jeonghan could see a hint of worry in his eyes. Then Jisoo has to go get his makeup retouched for some reason. Jeonghan couldn't understand why, Jisoo hadn't stopped looking flawless yet.

"Don't be yourself," Jihoon warns him when Jisoo is out of earshot and someone is doing Jeonghan's hair and makeup. Jeonghan felt like a star, but still with a mean manager. "You'd be all trashy on TV."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll act all proper," Jeonghan snaps at him. He admires his reflection in the mirror once his hair and makeup are done, wow he looked flawless, he thinks, and he might have given Jisoo a run for his money if he'd been an idol too.

-

Jeonghan insists on wearing a pair of cool sunglasses before the press conference started ("That's how the stars do it," Jeonghan explains to a judging Jihoon) and plans to take them off once they’re seated at the long table in front of a roomful of reporters and photographers. He regrets taking off the sunglasses when the two of them are assaulted by camera flashes. He wonders how Jisoo isn’t even flinching from the blinding lights and how he must have his eyes closed in every one of the pictures from today.

“Good afternoon, I’m Sm17e’s Joshua Hong,” Jisoo says into the mic once their presence had been announced. He’s greeted by applause from the curious audience.

“Good afternoon, I’m Yoon Jeonghan from Cherry Burst,” Jeonghan echoes. For some reason they clap for him too. Jeonghan feels like a star.

“I would like to apologize for the misunderstanding that was caused by a picture that was taken of me with what looked like my girlfriend,” Jisoo starts. “That was not a girl but my friend Yoon Jeonghan, who I have known since I was a child living in America.”

Whoa, this guy was well-spoken, Jeonghan thought. He nods all the way through Jisoo’s explaining until it’s time for the reporters to ask questions.

“How close is your friendship with each other?”

“Close, very close. We’ve stayed in touch since we were children,” Jisoo says, smiling at Jeonghan affectionately. Jeonghan smiles back, nodding, like he does to all the other questions Jisoo answers by himself perfectly.

“Mr. Yoon Jeonghan, your rock band is provocative and advocates BDSM,” one reporter starts.

 _Fuck._ Jeonghan hopes they can’t see him sweat.

“It is very different from the image of Sm17e, which is cute and wholesome. Does this affect your friendship in any way?”

“No, it does not,” Jeonghan says in a voice he’s surprised comes out calm. “What Jisoo and I do artistically does not affect who we are as people.”

“Does Yoon Jeonghan act the same way as Big Sis Jeonghan does in private? Do you practice BDSM yourself?”

“I cannot answer that question.” _What the fuuuuck fuck this person and his question._ Jeonghan clears his throat, staring back at the dozens of pairs of eyes that watched his every move. “As an artist, I am selling a fantasy that lets people get away from their tedious everyday lives. I would prefer that my private life be kept private in order to preserve the fantasy world that I have created for my few but loyal fans.”

Jeonghan hopes everyone is as impressed as Jisoo looks.

-

“You did great,” Jisoo tells him once they’re in one of the company cars of Jisoo’s agency to go out for dinner with the staff. “You sounded like someone who’s been popular for years.”

Jeonghan flips his hair and it accidentally hits Jihoon’s face, as he was sitting beside his manager. He panics, Jihoon might yank his hair again like the last time this happened, but he looks at Jihoon and he’s smiling a smile that doesn’t look diabolical for once.

“You were cool,” Jihoon tells him. Jeonghan is proud.

-

_That long-haired guy is so hot! I don’t mind that he wears lingerie for his band performances._

_I am shipping them._

_The way they look at each other, aww_ ♥

_They seem close, it’s really cute._

_The way they’re both dressed, it looks like they’re getting married._

_They look good together! I ship JiHan!_

_Why haven’t I heard of Yoon Jeonghan and Cherry Burst until now? I checked their videos and their songs are good!_

_“_ Whoa, Big Sis, you’re popular!” Mingyu exclaims with wide eyes as he read the comments to the article about the press conference.

“Do I look like shit?” Jeonghan scans the 100 HD paparazzi pictures that were posted online for any pictures of him with his eyes closed. “Shit, I look hot!”

“All that professional hair and makeup must have helped. Your skin looks flawless.” Wonwoo looks impressed. But Mingyu pouts at him so he adds quickly, “Your hair looks better when Mingyu works on it though.” Mingyu smiles and goes back to the article.

“50 million fucking won, you did great, Jeonghan,” Jihoon says, cackling. “I knew you guys would make money someday!”

“You wanted us to become whores at one point though,” Jeonghan laughs. The phone in his pocket vibrates and he reads a message from Jisoo:

_Hi, I hope we can still hang out even though the press conference is finished :)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So proud of myself for writing 2 chapters in 2 days xD I love comments, please comment!


	8. more of a kisser than a talker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Side chapter. Meanie. Contains mentions of sex and underage sex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to create side chapters for every character/couple and this is the Meanie one idk. The band names are from the band name generator here -> http://www.bandnamemaker.com/generator/?cw= (bc i am uncreative with names)

A small event for indie bands a sketchy bar was hosting. This was what Mingyu and his high school friends practiced for and made fake IDs for during the past six months. No one would suspect Mingyu since he was tall and looked mature for his age, but to make the illusion of adulthood more believable, they had a few drinks.

A few bands after their own performance, Mingyu catches someone with dark hair at the bar drinking by himself, all brooding. The leather jacket and turtleneck looked too warm to be wearing in this place, but it looked pretty good on him. Attractive. Mingyu decides to introduce himself; his friends had been trying to make connections in the music industry and it wouldn’t hurt to get to know someone hot.

“Hi,” he says as he sat down next to the guy, flashing his most charming smile. “I’m Mingyu.”

The Brooding Guy nods in acknowledgement, sipping his drink. “I’m Wonwoo.”

“Do you play too?” Mingyu asks. The guy had on some pretty intense eyeshadow. “I play bass for Crawl Queen.”

“Uh-huh,” Wonwoo says. His voice was pretty deep. “Drums. Pitiful Protocol.”

“Ohh.” So it was his band that played before the one that was currently performing. Mingyu didn’t notice Wonwoo at all when they played. The drums of their band were pretty good, but the song was pretty much ruined with the unpleasantly shrill female vocals that were unfit for the song’s sad lyrics. “You were pretty good,” Mingyu compliments him.

“Thanks.”

Mingyu buys the drummer a few drinks in hopes of getting him to loosen up and talk more, and Wonwoo buys him drinks right back. The drinks don’t make Wonwoo any more talkative, but they do bring the two of them to the cheap motel down the street.

Mingyu discovers that Wonwoo is more of a kisser than a talker.

“I’ll leave you my number, okay? For if your band disbands and mine also disbands and you need a bassist,” Mingyu explains when he’s putting his clothes back on the next morning. Wonwoo just grunts in response, lying on his stomach with his face against the pillow. Mingyu wants to warn him about the cleanliness of motels, or lack thereof, and how Wonwoo’s makeup is probably staining the pillow cover, but Wonwoo just looks… Tired. Very tired. Mingyu doesn’t understand why, he was the one whose ass hurt like a bitch right now. Maybe Wonwoo was bad with alcohol?

-

“Which university have you decided on?”

 “I said, I don’t want to go.”

Mrs. Nam looks concerned, but Mingyu knows it’s all an act. All teachers were like this, trying to get students to do things that would make the school’s name sound good by encouraging them to pursue academics.

“But Mr. Kim, you’ve passed all of your entrance exams. Some of the good universities are even offering you scholarships, why waste the opportunity?”

“I don’t think I want to.”

Studying. Mingyu was sick of it. As a child he’d loved learning about everything from dinosaurs to the life cycle of plants. He’d loved showing off to his parents and relatives about the knowledge he had. But once he got to high school, he’d seen how everyone focused on getting a grade higher than their peers. It was a competition he couldn’t see the whole point of. Education had become more about scores than about the pleasure of learning.

“I hope you’re not planning on wasting your scholarships to continue with music.”

Music. The deafening sound of how many instruments being practiced in the cramped garage of his friend’s house. This had been his solace from the pressures of his parents demanding that he get good grades, the impending doom of university life, and the whole boredom of it all.

Mingyu gives his teacher a toothy grin. “As a matter of fact, I am.”

-

“You… You’re a high school student?”

It’s that drummer he banged during the indie event. On a bus with him on his way to the last morning of his high school days.

“Uh, yeah.” Mingyu smiles sheepishly. He should’ve styled his hair to look more mature today. He looked young when he didn’t style it at all, which was how he looked today. “It’s my last day though. I’m graduating tomorrow.”

Wonwoo (Mingyu remembers his name. He’d waited a whole month for a text from an unknown number introducing himself as that) was wearing a hoodie and a beanie on his head. His eyes were clear of any sign of makeup, but they still looked striking. He turned out to be a few inches shorter than Mingyu, which Mingyu hadn’t noticed when they’d first met.

“Congratulations, then. Mingyu, was it?” Wonwoo asks.

Mingyu nods, unable to keep his smile. So, he wasn’t forgotten. “Thanks. Wonwoo?”

“Yeah. Glad you remember.”

Mingyu was not prepared to see him smile.

Wonwoo tells him he’s on his way to the university that is two stops away from Mingyu’s high school, and that the band he had been playing for had disbanded.

“That’s too bad,” Mingyu says. Then, unable to contain his curiosity, he asks: “What happened?”

Wonwoo shrugs. “Our vocalist was dating the bassist, and they broke up, so naturally they didn’t want to work with each other anymore. That’s why you shouldn’t date fellow band members.”

“Ohh.” So he was against dating his band mates.

“Are you in a band now?” So Wonwoo could actually converse. He’d been so quiet during the indie fest.

“Nah, everyone’s busy with trying to get into a university.”

“Aren’t _you_ busy with that?”

“I’m not going.”

Wonwoo just nods at that and doesn’t ask any more questions. They’re silent until the bus gets to Mingyu’s stop and Mingyu waves goodbye to him, says it was nice to see him. Wonwoo says he still has Mingyu’s number and that he’ll text him about creating a new band.

-

 “You don’t have a shift today.”

Mingyu stares at the café manager. No way. He was so sure it was the café on Tuesdays and Friday mornings, the family restaurant on Mondays and Wednesdays, the convenience store on Saturdays and the salon on Sunday mornings and the pizza delivery job on Sunday evenings. Or was it Mondays for the café and the salon on Saturdays? He couldn’t remember.

“Your shifts are scheduled on Saturdays and Wednesdays,” Mr. Han tells him.

 “Oh.”

He walks away. What part-time job was missing today if he went to the wrong place?

-

“I got fired,” he tells Wonwoo, giggling. He’d had enough alcohol to make everything funny.

The two of them had gotten the habit of hanging out at bars regularly whenever they had time, trying to find people to work with.

Wonwoo looks concerned. “You should stop with doing so many part-time jobs. Just keep one or two.”

“I’m going to starve and die with just two.” Mingyu has his head in his arms on the bar top. Living independently was harder than he thought.

“With six part-time jobs, you’ll overwork yourself and die.”

“You mean five. No, just four now. I just told you I got fired.” Mingyu hums in content when Wonwoo pats his head.

“Hey.”

The two of them turn to whoever was sitting beside Wonwoo. It’s a friendly-looking black-haired guy smiling at them, with a feminine-looking guy (or was it a guy? Mingyu thought he or she was pretty).

“Are you guys in a band?”

-

And so they end up working with Choi Seungcheol and the long-haired Yoon Jeonghan, and two other guitarists that don’t stay with the band for long. Mingyu doesn’t mind that there are only the four of them; he likes Jeonghan’s brash personality that contrasts with his elegant looks, and he likes Seungcheol’s warm personality, and most of all, he gets to work with Wonwoo now, who he’s gotten close to during their regular drinking sessions (and their occasional casual fucks that end in intimate pillow talks).

“When we met again in the bus,” Mingyu says softly after their heartbeats had slowed down. “You said something.”

“Yeah?” Wonwoo had his eyes closed now. After their first few times together, Mingyu had gotten used to Wonwoo being lazy after sex. “What?”

“You said... Bandmates weren’t supposed to date.” Mingyu bit his lip.

“Uh-huh. I feel different now, though.”

 “Yeah?” Mingyu smiled.

 “Don’t you think Seungcheol and Jeonghan look good together? They should date.”

 “Oh.” How disappointing.

 “We’re pretty good together too. I guess.” Wonwoo opened his eyes to turn to him. “Maybe we should date.”

 Mingyu finally gets the after-sex cuddling he’d always wanted from Wonwoo.

-

 “I got a job,” Wonwoo says, giving a little, uncertain smile.

Mingyu’s face fell. “What?”

They were living together unofficially, with Mingyu “sleeping over” everyday. Today Wonwoo had graduated from university, so they were celebrating it with a feast Mingyu had spent hours cooking and a part of his savings to buy the ingredients for.

“I got a job,” Wonwoo repeats. “A real job. A desk job. A nine to five one.”

 Mingyu looks at him, unable to conceal the hurt in his eyes. “You’re leaving.”

 “What?”

 Mingyu gets up from the table and out into the small area they called their living room, Wonwoo following him to grab his wrist.

“Baby-“

“Why do you need a job?” Mingyu asks, his voice cracking as he holds back tears.

“I-“

“Don’t I have enough part-time jobs to keep the both of us alive? What about the band? You won’t be having any time for that anymore, huh? I thought you were passionate about music and it was your dream to be successful in that industry and-”

Wonwoo was more of a kisser than a talker, and Mingyu kisses him back fervently, clinging to Wonwoo’s shirt to bawl his eyes out once they pull apart.

“Mingyu, I’m leaving neither you nor the band,” Wonwoo whispers against his hair, wrapping his arms around Mingyu. The height difference made the scene awkward, with Mingyu’s knees buckled for him to reach the older man’s shirt, and if he wasn’t crying so hard he’d probably be laughing at the whole thing. Mingyu whimpered against his shirt in response, and Wonwoo strokes his hair until the sobbing subsided.

“What do you plan on doing, then?” Mingyu says once he’d calmed down a little and blew his nose. He’d gotten tired and they’ve moved to sit down on the couch. He must’ve looked disgusting right now and he’d probably gotten some snot on Wonwoo’s shirt, but he still felt horrible and like he was being left behind.

“Nothing different.” Wonwoo laces their fingers together and smiles at his red-eyed, tear-streaked face. “I’ll stay with you and the band. I’ll have time.”

“You’ll be too tired to do anything else but work,” Mingyu whispers against his shoulder, before leaning his head on it.

 “No I won’t. I’ll work hard at this job and work hard at making music, then I’ll come home and recharge by lazing around with you.”

 Mingyu smiles. “Really?” he asks sheepishly, like lazing around was the sweetest thing then two of them could do.

 “Yeah.” Wonwoo smiles back.

 “But why work? Do you need money? I’ll get more part-time jobs if you need-“ Mingyu flinches when Wonwoo flicks his forehead, rubbing his sore forehead. “Ow.”

 “That’s exactly why I want to work. You’re killing yourself with all these part-time jobs.” Wonwoo frowns at him.

 “But-“

 “Shut up.”

 Mingyu pouts, but shuts up anyway.

 “I also want to save up for a new place, so you can live with me.”

 Mingyu tackles him in a bearhug, Wonwoo lazily slapping his arm in protest. “Aww. I practically already live with you though.”

 “I haven’t asked you to live with me, and this place is a dump, so you don’t officially live here.”

Mingyu kisses him anyway.

-

“You guys seem happy.” Jeonghan says suspiciously when Mingyu and Wonwoo arrive at the practice studio holding hands. “Good sex last night?”

 

Mingyu smiles. This relationship was more than just good sex lately.


	9. in korea, being greasy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cherry Burst has a new guitarist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of my readers commented this idea to me, and it was great so I wrote it! Thanks so much for suggesting! :)

Messy dark brown hair, eyes smudged with eyeliner, ears heavy with piercings, a pierced mouth curved into a smile, leather everything.

Jeonghan wonders if his balls were all sweaty in those leather pants.

"Um, hi?" Jeonghan says, looking at the unknown leather-clad boy sitting in their practice studio.

"Who're you?" Mingyu asks bluntly. He and Wonwoo had bumped into Jeonghan on the way to the practice studio and opted to go together.

"Hi, I'm Wen Junhui," the guy says, standing up to bow politely to them before sitting down again. Jeonghan noticed that he had an accent. "Or Jun. I'm your new guitarist."

"Huh?" Jeonghan and his bandmates look at each other.

"Jihoon didn't tell us about this," Wonwoo says blankly.

"Huh?" Junhui looks as surprised as they are. "Mr. Lee told me to come here and wait for you guys though, I thought you already new. We'd been talking about me becoming a part of the band for weeks now."

"Um… Someone call Jihoon," Jeonghan tells his bandmates, like they were children in need of Jihoon's adult supervision. Wonwoo keeps staring at the new guy and Jeonghan thinks he’s probably scaring him with his default face, but Wen Junhui doesn’t look fazed.

"Yes, that's your new guitarist," Jihoon's voice snaps at them on loudspeaker when he finally answers Mingyu's call after all of them have been standing around the practice room awkwardly for a few minutes. "Now go practice with him." And Jihoon hangs up.

Jeonghan and Mingyu stare at each other.

“Weren’t you a part of Maniac Hook?” Wonwoo asks Junhui suddenly. “I thought you looked familiar.”

Junhui smiles sheepishly and it doesn’t go well with his attire at all. “Yeah, we disbanded some time ago.”

“Yeah, I remember that band breaking up. You held a last live recently, didn’t you?” Mingyu joins the conversation. He turns to Jeonghan. “That band was really popular!! Filled up a large-scale venue during their last live. And there were a lot of crying fans when they broke up.”

“But why would you want to join our trashy band,” Jeonghan asks Junhui. That was Jihoon’s worry when Seungcheol had left them.

He’s unprepared for Junhui moving closer to him and feeling Junhui’s breath on his neck as the other whispered against his skin: “Because I wanted to see you, Big Sis.” Mingyu’s and Wonwoo’s jaws drop. Junhui pulls away and laughs at Jeonghan’s shocked face. “That’s all. And I’ve been to you guys’ lives, you guys are pretty impressive. You have songs that I really like and the energy you give the crowd is awesome. And, I can help you with the BDSM parts. I’m an enthusiast.” He winks at Jeonghan, who cringes.

-

An hour of practice later, they realize that Junhui turned out to be a pretty good guitarist, and Jihoon must have trained him for weeks (or at least bossed him around to practice) as he seemed to already know most of Cherry Burst’s songs on guitar.

“He has thirty-five thousand followers on Twitter, Big Sis,” Mingyu says in awe as he scrolled through his phone when Jeonghan was personally coaching Junhui on a guitar solo. Junhui had a lot of selfies on his Twitter that got a lot of retweets, and his pinned tweet read:

_NOTICE: I’m joining a new band soon! I can’t wait to see your pretty faces again soon ;)_

“What the hell, your fans got to know about you joining a band before the actual band you were joining,” Mingyu says in disbelief.

“Damn that Lee Jihoon,” Jeonghan says as he positions Junhui’s fingers on the guitar’s fretboard.

“Yes, Big Sis, show my fingers what to do,” Junhui says in a low voice, laughing when Jeonghan lets go of him in shock, face red.

Wonwoo sees how uncomfortable Jeonghan is. “Look,” he starts. Junhui looks at him. “We can’t work with you if you’re going to be such a pervert. You aren’t here to flirt with Jeonghan. Do you understand?”

“Sorry. I understand.” Junhui really does look like he regrets it. He turns to Jeonghan and bows. “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I won’t do it again.”

Jeonghan gives him a small smile. “It’s fine. Let’s just practice, okay?”

They practice until late evening before Wonwoo has to go home as he had work the next day.

“Wanna go for a drink?” Jeonghan asks Mingyu and Junhui. “So we can get to know Junhui a little better?”

Mingyu doesn’t want to leave Jeonghan alone with the pervert who’d been flirting with him all afternoon, so he goes with them to the bar they knew sold drinks the cheapest.

“Where are you from, even,” Mingyu asks Junhui once they’ve had enough alcohol to ease the awkwardness of talking to unfamiliar people. “And why are you such a pervert.”

Junhui laughs. “I’m originally from rural China. Like, near the mountains and nature and shit. Then my family moved to the city. Then I moved here alone a few years ago.”

“But why’re you _here,”_ Mingyu presses. “In Korea. Being greasy.”

“Like you guys. I wanted to…” Junhui appears to be thinking of what words to say. “Become a rockstar, I guess.” He smiled sheepishly before taking a swig of his beer.

“But why here,” Jeonghan asks curiously.

“I kind of promised my little brother I’d make it big in another country,” Junhui tells them shyly. He chugs his beer before continuing: “It’s harder than I thought though. I’ve been in like, four different bands these past few years. When my previous band was becoming popular I thought it was the band that would finally make it, but then it disbanded like the others.” Junhui laughs bitterly.

Mingyu and Jeonghan nod slowly. They understood his sentiments well.

“You’re so far away from your family,” Mingyu says sadly.

“Yeah. Like Jisoo,” Jeonghan says, remembering his idol friend. “His parents are in the US.”

“Ah, was that the guy you did the press conference with?” Junhui asks. He gave Jeonghan one of his greasy smiles. “You looked pretty good on TV, Big Sis.”

Jeonghan ignores him to order more beer.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot I wasn’t supposed to flirt with you. It’s hard though,” Junhui whines. “Wonwoo looked like he was going to kill me earlier.”

“That’s just how he always looks,” Mingyu laughs.

-

“So, what did you think of the new guitarist?” Jihoon asks during the next practice when Junhui still hasn’t arrived.

“He’s kind of a pervert,” Wonwoo deadpans. “He’s got a pretty big fanbase though. I’m surprised you got to recruit someone like him, Jihoon.”

“I didn’t recruit him. He applied when I advertised that we were looking for a guitarist.”

Cherry Burst’s members look shocked.

“He’s a pervert, so he must have liked this perverted concept of our band,” Mingyu reasons out. “Also, he’s kind of creepy.”

“He seems nice, he moved all the way here from China just to follow his dream.” Jeonghan says, smiling. He admired people like that. He’d been through so much with his dream-following lately, wearing lingerie and getting into press conferences with idols.

“You must like him,” Mingyu says in shock.

Jeonghan waves him off. “Nah.”

-

“Hello? Jeonghan?”

Jeonghan smiles into his mobile phone. “Hi, Jisoo.”

“Sorry, were you busy?”

“Nah. You need anything?” It was unlike Jisoo to call him at ungodly hours, and Jeonghan was always awake during godly hours.

“Not really. Just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“You miss me, then?” Jeonghan grins. Junhui’s greasiness must have rubbed onto him.

Jisoo was probably blushing right now. “Um, I kinda do.” Aww.

Jeonghan smiles. Endearing. “Can I hang out at your place again sometime? I don’t need any of those useless English lessons Jihoon told me to get from you though. I didn’t even use it during the press conference.”

“Yeah, just tell me when you’re free!” Jisoo says excitedly. “And we can eat chicken again!”

“Yeah!” Jeonghan laughs. This boy must really like chicken.

They talk about Cherry Burst’s new guitarist and Joshua Hong’s idol activities, until Jeonghan hears Jisoo yawn and tells him to go to sleep or he’ll look like shit again.

“Yeah, I’ll sleep.”

“Good night, then.”

“Hey, can I go to your shows sometime, Jeonghan?”

“...What?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Junhui in leather and dark makeup and piercings would be hot, so that's how I wrote him.


	10. hello! we're idols too!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... Nothing actually happens in this chapter omg. More greasy!Jun.

"What theme do you want to do for your first live show with us?" Jeonghan asks Junhui as he and Mingyu look through Junhui's closet for clothes they could use for onstage costumes. This guy sure liked a lot of leather.

"I kind of like the Big-Sis-the-bunny-hopping-on-your-dick theme but aren't tuxedos expensive?" Junhui asks. He's lying down on his side in his bed, his head propped up on his hand to look at them. He grins. "I hope you'd hop on my-"

Mingyu throws a pair of ripped jeans at his face and Jeonghan laughs. "You'll have to buy a tuxedo anyway for when we use that theme again. And most of our costumes are handmade or from thrift stores," Mingyu tells him, picking up a mesh tank top to look at it more closely. "This is pretty good!"

"How about the nurse theme?" Jeonghan asks as he showed them a long lab coat. The only white thing he'd found under all the black. "Have you done the medical theme with your other bands before, Jun?"

"Oh, we haven't done that one in a while," Mingyu butts in excitedly before Jun can answer. "I still have my stethoscope!"

"I wanted to do that theme but my other band mates didn't want to, said it was too sexual," Jun says, rolling his eyes. "What kids."

Jeonghan laughs. "Well, the band you've just joined is too sexual so now's your chance to be a doctor."

-

"Hello? Jihoon?" Jeonghan's phone is smashed between his shoulder and his ear as his hands were busy flipping through the racks of used clothing in the thrift store. "Has the 50 million won finally been deposited?"

Mingyu and Junhui look embarrassed as the other shoppers stare at Jeonghan.

"Do well and don't embarrass me."

"What?" Jeonghan takes his phone from his ear and stares at it. Jihoon had called just to say that and had hung up on him just like that? What about his 50 million won?

"What'd Mr. Lee say?" Junhui asks as he and Mingyu got over their embarrassment enough to stop pretending they didn't know Jeonghan.

"He said to do well and to not embarrass him." Jeonghan shrugs and turns back to the clothing racks. "Typical Jihoon, but why now?"

"Must be having one of those moods again. Hey, here's something you can use for the magician costume," Mingyu says, picking up a long black blazer from a rack. He holds it up against Junhui. "Try it on!"

"Help me get naked?" Junhui asks Jeonghan with a wink. Jeonghan makes a face which stays his face until Mingyu tells Junhui he just has to put the blazer on over the clothes he's wearing.

-

Jisoo ends up going with Soonyoung and Seokmin after much whining from Seungkwan and Hansol about wanting to go with him to the Cherry Burst show.

"I'll let you guys go once you're above twenty," Jisoo had promised the two of them. It still fuels a diva tantrum from Seungkwan, saying that his fabulousness made up for his young age, and angry rapping from Hansol. He's glad Minghao and Chan weren't interested at all, or at least weren't showing any interest.

Jisoo, Seokmin and Soonyoung bundle up in thick winter coats, with beanies on their heads and face masks to avoid being detected by fans when they line up to get tickets. Jeonghan's band seemed popular; the line to the ticket booth was fairly long. Their efforts to go unrecognized turn out to be completely useless when Soonyoung and Seokmin fool around too loudly.

"I'D KNOW THAT VOICE ANYWHERE! SOONYOUNG OPPA!!" a girl screeched from somewhere at the front of the line. Soonyoung says a loud HELLO and waves at the girl animatedly, earning screams from the girl and the other girls surrounding her.

"IS JOSHUA OPPA WITH YOU? WE'RE HERE TO SEE HIS FRIEND'S SHOW."

"Hi!" Jisoo says, bringing his face mask down to smile at them, earning screams. Seokmin starts singing so they'd recognize him as well, and the girls make too much noise and get scolded by the other concert-goers. He was glad his fans tried to support Jeonghan's band, they really were nice girls, his fans. It was pretty embarrassing to be seeing them here though. He feels his phone vibrate in his pocket and sees a message from Jeonghan.

                _"Are you here? Come to the dressing room!"_

__"_ I'm here with my friends :)"_

__"_ Bring them, then!"_

_"We haven't bought tickets yet!"_

_"Who cares!"_

_"Ticket sales go to your salary though xD"_

_"Come here after you get your tickets!"_

Jisoo chuckles at the reply and puts his phone back in his coat pocket. Soonyoung wraps an arm around his shoulders.

"Joshua Hong~" Soonyoung says in his annoying American accent. Seokmin smiles a little too close to Jisoo's face. "Why are you all smiley? Who texted you?"

"Jeonghan," Jisoo whispers to them, pushing a still smiling Seokmin away. "He's inviting us backstage. Let's go after we get our tickets."

"You were smiling like a cute girl texted you though," Seokmin snickers, and Soonyoung snickers along with him.

"I was not," Jisoo protests, feeling his cheeks grow warmer as his two friends start guffawing. They end up getting recognized by more fans.

Once they'd gotten their tickets, they ask a staff member to show them backstage and they're shown through a corridor. They reach a door with peeling paint with a piece of paper with a handwritten CHERRY BURST and little doodles of faces. Jisoo immediately recognized one as Jeonghan because of the long hair and wondered why one face was more detailed than the others.

Jisoo knocks on the door and a very tall guy wearing a lab coat with a stethoscope around his neck opens it. Jisoo would have wondered what a doctor was doing there if it hadn't been for the guy's dark eyeshadow.

"Oh," the tall guy says, smiling. Jisoo thought he looked less threatening and more child-like when he smiled, with his fang-like teeth giving his face some charm. He yells back into the room: "Hey Big Sis! It's the idol guy! And some other guys!"

"Hello! We're idols too!" Seokmin and Soonyoung say, laughing.

The tall guy lets them into the somewhat messy dressing room, babbling about how he'd drawn the doodles they'd seen on the door ("I'm the handsome one"). Two other men wearing similar doctor-like outfits sit on a couch and greet them.

Jeonghan's checking his eyeshadow in the mirror when they see him, and he turns his head to greet them. "Hey."

"Hi," Jisoo says, smiling.

"Pretty~" Soonyoung says loudly as they approach Jeonghan, his small eyes as wide as they can open. Seokmin echoes the sentiment. Jisoo can make some sense out of Jeonghan's costume now that he saw it up close: Jeonghan is a nurse, complete with a little nurse hat on his head. He wants to scold Jeonghan about his skirt being too short, but the sight of his long legs make his face feel warm.

Jeonghan laughs. "Thanks. Are these your friends, Jisoo?"

"Yeah, these are Soonyoung and Seokmin," Jisoo says as he motioned to his two friends, who gave animated greetings. They really were like cartoon characters most of the time.

Jeonghan introduces his handmates. The tall one who opened the door is the bassist Mingyu. Jun and Wonwoo, the guitarist and drummer, were the ones sitting on the couch.

They chat for a few minutes until it's finally time for the show, Jisoo wishing them good luck with a smile.

-

"Why are there so many people today," Mingyu asks panickedly as he peered out into the livehouse from the backstage curtains.

"It's a full house tonight," one of the live house's staff members tells them cheerfully. The four band members can only gawk in shock.

"Let's do well?" Jeonghan says hopefully, Mingyu and Jun cheer loudly while Wonwoo just holds his fist up with a blank face.


	11. lucky charm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jisoo finally goes to a show. Short update bc last update was also short.

“I’ll be your nurse for tonight. Let Big Sis take care of you. Inject me with your love juice,” Jeonghan is saying to the audience. He’s holding a large toy syringe that spurts out a white cream (mayonnaise? Or was it lotion?). Most of the men in the audience shout their adoration for him passionately, making Jisoo wince. He’d never been good with loud noises.

“What did you say?” Jisoo asks when Soonyoung says something he can’t quite hear over the noise.

“I said, I have a hard-on, hyung,” Soonyoung yells in his ear. “Seokmin too.”

Jisoo wants to scold Soonyoung for telling him such private things and to push him away as well, but it’s crowded and he doesn’t want to cause any trouble for the other concert-goers. Jeonghan’s now smearing the white cream on his hands and spreading it across his lips, dragging his tongue along his fingers. He can see the sweat dripping down Jeonghan’s legs and Jisoo’s pants feel tighter than when he’d first worn them today. He thinks he’s going to faint any time soon from his face heating up too much, he’s having a hard time breathing as well (he blames it on the venue being too crowded).

Luckily, Jeonghan stops talking to let their guitarist (Jun, Jisoo remembers) say some things to the audience that makes Jisoo want to stay in church for a month but makes the girls in the audience scream.

-

After what seemed like forever, the show finally ends and Jisoo can breathe fine again.

“That was pretty great,” Seokmin tells them, smiling like always. “I think Jisoo hyung found it hot as well.” He and Soonyoung cackle and Jisoo regrets not taking Seungkwan and Hansol instead.

“Aren’t you gonna wait for Big Sis, hyung?” Soonyoung asks Jisoo as they made their way to Jisoo’s car.

Jisoo feels his face turn red at the mention of ‘Big Sis’. Why can’t Soonyoung call him Jeonghan? “I’ll just hang out with him some other time,” Jisoo tells him in what he hopes is a casual tone. Soonyoung and Seokmin still laugh like hyenas, trying to warm their hands up by pressing them against Jisoo’s face. Jisoo slaps their hands away but apologizes profusely when Seokmin cries out in mock pain.

-

                “ _Thanks for coming to our show tonight! I hope you guys enjoyed :)”_

Soonyoung and Seokmin scream when Jisoo shows them the message from Jeonghan when they arrive at the dorm. Jisoo is too tired to go to his own apartment, so he’d decided to stay at the dorm where he was dropping off his two friends. It was a bad idea though, staying anywhere with Soonyoung and Seokmin never resulted in any kind of rest.

“What a goddess,” Seokmin says dreamily.

Soonyoung nods fervently in agreement. “I’d let him take care of me anytime!”

Seungkwan and Hansol give Jisoo the side eye, as if to say “see what happened when you didn’t take us instead of them”.

-

                _“Hey, can I come over?”_

_“Please bring chicken xD”_

“Hi,” Jeonghan greets him when Jisoo opens the door to his apartment. Jisoo is relieved to see Normal Male Jeonghan, who is in pants and without a stitch of makeup on his face.

They look at tweets from the Cherry Burst live a few days ago.

                _I went to see @sm17eofficial Joshua’s friend, but I fell in love with you @junforyou_ ♥ _@cherryburst_

_Saw the oppas from @sm17eofficial at the @cherryburst concert!_

_Big Sis is so beautiful! @cherryburst_

_I want to get sick so Big Sis will nurse me back to health! @cherryburst_

_@cherryburst Dr. Mingyu and Dr. Wonwoo! Please examine my body!_

To which Jun replied: _Is Dr. Jun no good? I can examine you down there, make you feel good ;)_

“He’s crazy,” Jeonghan laughs.

For some reason there are a lot of pictures of Jisoo and his friends outside of the venue before and after the show. He really couldn’t do anything in private anymore, Jisoo wanted to sigh at this thought.

“Why is your face so red in all of these pictures?” Jeonghan starts laughing again.

“It was cold!” Jisoo says defensively.

“Did you like my skirt?” Jeonghan teases him.

“It was too short,” Jisoo says a little too loudly, and Jeonghan laughs harder. He’s glad when Jeonghan’s phone rings.

“Yeah?” Jeonghan says into the receiver. His eyes widen. “Are you fucking serious?” He looks at Jisoo and smiles, dropping his phone to the carpet below the couch they were sitting on to throw his arms around Jisoo.

“H-hey, what happened?” Jisoo asks quickly, flustered by the sudden intimacy. He blushes when the long-haired man nuzzles his neck and tentatively puts a hand on Jeonghan’s back.

“You must be some kind of lucky charm, Hong Jisoo,” Jeonghan mumbles against his neck, his hold around Jisoo tightening. “Only good things have been happening since I met you.”

Jisoo smiles, relaxing a little into the hug. He gently strokes Jeonghan’s hair. “Something good happened, then?”

Jeonghan pulls away and Jisoo’s a little disappointed at the loss of contact, but the way Jeonghan smiles happily at him makes him forget his disappointment. “We’ll be appearing on TV. Some TV producer watched our show and want us on a music program.”

Jisoo pulls him back into the hug excitedly, telling Jeonghan he’s happy for him.

“First we have a full live venue, and now this. Thank you, Jisoo.”

Jisoo wonders if he deserves this, he didn’t remember doing anything that Jeonghan could be thanking him for at all, but he hugs Jeonghan tighter anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DON'T EVEN SHIP THIS omg my jeongcheol heart is crying


	12. that idol is fat in real life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> v short update after a long time

“Can’t I wear those long flowy pants that look like skirts?” Jeonghan asks as he fluffed up his skirt. It’s all poofy, made out of tulle in a shade of red that made Jeonghan squint. The bright color hurt his eyes.

Jihoon ignores him, which is typical Jihoon behavior when you’ve asked him a stupid question enough times. He’d already explained that the producers of the TV show can’t have a crossdresser in racy lingerie, but since it was their band’s whole image, they’d let Jeonghan go on the show if he wore a skirt over his lingerie.

The show they’d gotten invited to was a pre-recorded one that aired late on weekends. They get to do a short video clip introducing their songs; Jeonghan stuttering and having to do several takes with a stiff smile while the others were instructed to look cool and serious behind him. They burst out laughing after the cut, losing the cool and serious image.

They get to perform in front of an audience in the TV company’s concert hall. Jihoon had picked three of their songs strategically: one upbeat song, a sad jazz number, and their signature loud sexual music for the last song. They had been instructed to tone down their language during the emcee part, but Jeonghan still thinks they managed to leave an impression, as the crowd had seemed to enjoy their performance.

-

_“Congratulations! \\(^w^)/ When is it scheduled to air again?”_

_“11pm on Saturday! Watch!!!”_

_“Wanna come over and watch together? If you aren’t watching with someone else? ^w^;;”_

_“Have some food ready!”_

 

_-_

 

“Hi,” Jeonghan greets as Jisoo meets him at the door of his apartment an hour before the music show would air. He asks the important questions once he’s let in. “Did you get food? What food?”

Jisoo chuckles and assures him that he’d ordered some pizza and Jeonghan grins. Free food and free TV! They eat in front of the TV, Jeonghan talking animatedly about shooting for the TV show and Jisoo laughing.

“That idol is fat in real life,” Jeonghan says through a mouthful of pizza, pointing to the commercial on the TV screen with the tip of his pizza.

“That’s so mean,” Jisoo laughs.

Jeonghan shushes him when the program’s theme song starts playing, and they anticipate Cherry Burst’s part. After what feels like dozens of idol group performances, they finally show Jeonghan’s stiff introduction of their songs. The show ends with only one of their songs aired.

Jisoo claps and smiles brightly. “You guys did great! Congratulations!”

“Why only one song?” Jeonghan says in a small voice. He didn’t really think much of it, but during the shoot most of the hosts did pay more attention to the idols than their band, or the other two bands he didn’t know of.

“Yeah,” Jisoo says casually, taking a sip of his coke. “They usually cut out a lot of parts. You did great though! I’m sure people who watch’ll be interested in your band!” He smiles at Jeonghan warmly.

“We worked that hard and they give these idols all the screen time?” Jeonghan laughs bitterly. “Unbelievable. Their songs aren’t even good. And anyone can dance like that.”

Jisoo frowns. “Look, I know you’re upset, but you don’t have to belittle other people’s hard work.”

“Yeah, what would you know,” Jeonghan sneers. “You’re an idol. You just have to smile and wave and everyone gives you their attention. Must be easy, huh?”

Jisoo looks tired. Hurt. “Jeonghan…”

“What, can’t even get mad at me?” Jeonghan says mockingly. “They really trained you idols to be perfect human beings!” He was mad. Mad at society for not acknowledging his band’s hard work. Mad at himself for keeping his hopes up and thinking this was finally their shot at success. Mad at idols who will always outshine him, no matter how hard he works or how much effort he puts into achieving his dream.

He picks up his jacket and leaves, not giving Jisoo a last look. His perfect idol face sickened him. It would’ve been better if Jisoo had gotten angry and yelled back at him, but no, he just had to be perfect, inside and out, like the idol that he was.

Like every other sad moment in his life, Jeonghan drinks himself stupid. This time he didn’t have Jisoo to take care of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update after months! Thanks so much to people who still read this fic although it hasn't been updated for a while otl I suck. This fic might be ending soon, idk how many chapters more I'll do xD


	13. you probably did something dumb again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaah i finally updated! I'm so terrible at updating this fic i swear. Thank you so much for people who comment and leave kudos!

"Where are you? Are you still at that idol guy's place?" It's Mingyu, voice as loud as always even over the phone. "We're at Jihoon's, come over! You can bring your idol boyfriend, Jihoon's paying for drinks," the younger man babbles. Mingyu always talked fast when he was excited, and Jeonghan would've found it cute if he wasn't in such a foul mood. Right now he just wants to get drunk, alone, and mope around.

"I'm already drinking," Jeonghan snaps before taking a gulp from the beer bottle in front of him. He's only on his second bottle and people were already bothering him.

Mingyu whines at him, then Mingyu's talking to someone else like a child telling on his brother to an adult, then it's Jihoon's voice he hears on the other line. "Jeonghan?"

"Leave me alone," Jeonghan grumbles to him. He places his hand on the bar counter, not minding how sticky the surface was, and rests his forehead on his hand.

"You're probably at that dingy bar again, aren't you?" Jeonghan frowns. How'd Jihoon know? Before he can protest, his manager's ordering him to stay where he was, or he'd have to pay for tonight's drinks. "I'm buying us better beer than what you're drinking now, that bar's beer tastes as cheap as it is," Jihoon adds before hanging up.

Around fifteen minutes after the call, Jihoon arrives (after arguing with bar management and showing an ID that indicated that he was, in fact, old enough to be in a bar). A grumpy Jihoon is unexpectedly strong; and he manages to drag and shove Jeonghan into his car.

Jihoon drives, announcing that they'd stop by a liquor store to buy drinks. Jeonghan folds his arms over his chest and says he doesn't even feel like celebrating anyway so Jihoon has to carry everything himself.

"Okay, what's wrong with you?" Jihoon finally asks when they reach a stoplight. "You're usually excited about free stuff. And everyone else is happy about being on TV, while you're drinking cheap beer alone being all salty."

The stoplight blinks green and Jihoon starts driving again. There aren't many cars on the streets at this hour and Jeonghan stares at the streetlights they pass, their forms blurred into flashes of light by the speed the car was moving. It was oddly calming.

"Jihoon." Jeonghan finally feels like talking. He runs his fingers through his ash blonde hair, tightening them into a fist once he reaches his scalp. "You ever felt like... No matter how much effort you put in, and no matter how hard you work to achieve your goals..." Jeonghan blinks back tears, forcing out an awkward laugh. "Well, other people just seem to get all the opportunities you work so hard to get, with less effort."

They've reached the 24-hour liquor store and Jeonghan's ready to let the issue go. Jihoon parks the car at a spot near a large, looming tree, but makes no move to get out. Instead, he looks at Jeonghan. "No," Jihoon says simply. "Who is this about?"

Jeonghan frowns at him. Couldn't Jihoon be a little more sympathetic? He leans closer to Jihoon and flicks his long hair at his face. Jihoon throws a handful of it back at Jeonghan's face, laughing, and Jeonghan can't help but laugh with him.

"That's never happened to me," Jihoon says. "I thought it happened, multiple times, but it never really did."

_What the hell is this kid saying._

"The people I thought got opportunities for nothing were actually working harder than I was," Jihoon continues. He's talking carefully, like he was trying to choose the right words to explain his words. "I could only see my own struggles so I thought I was the one who worked hardest, but then I realized that I didn't know what other people went through and couldn't judge them anymore. Well, some people are born rich and don't have to work hard but other people..." He shrugs, looking away from Jeonghan. Jeonghan could see his round face illuminated from the liquor store's light, and Jihoon looks more mature than ever in his eyes. "Who were you talking about?" Jihoon asks again, leaning back against the driver's seat comfortably.

"Idols," Jeonghan answers dumbly. He feels like a kid being lectured by his eighty year-old grandpa. Jihoon was mature; even more mature than Jeonghan was. "Jihoonie, did you see how much screentime they got?" he wails. "Like, they gave us one minute and the idol groups got like 8 minutes each!"

Jihoon laughs, throwing his head back. "Do you even know how hard it is to be an idol?"

"They just have to dance and lip sync, how hard could it be?" Jeonghan huffs. "And I bet you could do aegyo better than them!"

"Don't put me and aegyo in the same sentence." Jihoon glares at him. "Idols have a lot on their plate, you know. Living in dorms away from their families, hours of dance practice and voice lessons, being forbidden to date," he counts on his fingers. "Really, you hang out with Hong Jisoo so much that I expect you to sympathize with idols."

Jeonghan flinches at the mention of Jisoo's name. 

"You probably did something dumb again. Or embarrassed yourself in front of him," Jihoon accuses him nonchalantly as he's unfastening his seatbelt. Damn Jihoon, he was good at picking up on other people's body language. He reaches for his car keys and gets out of the car, giving his arms a good stretch. "Fucking hurry up, we have drinks to buy," he calls.

Jeonghan reluctantly gets out of the car. He'd already decided not to help Jihoon with the liquor shopping earlier, but he follows Jihoon to the store anyway, eyes immediately lighting up when Jihoon loads their basket with liquor.

Once they've paid and lugged the cans and bottles into the back seat, Jeonghan sighs.

"What is it this time?" Jihoon asks in a bored tone as he settled himself on to the driver's seat.

"You know, I kind of took it out on Jisoo," Jeonghan tells him sadly as he took the passenger seat. He fastens his seatbelt and braced himself for Jihoon's driving again. Jihoon was actually a careful driver, but if he ever felt road rage... Well, Jeonghan hadn't seen him get mad at another driver, but it was a scary thought.

"I knew you'd done something dumb. I just knew it," Jihoon says victoriously. He starts the car and they drive off again. 

Jeonghan sighs again. A while ago he was pissed at idols for all the recognition they got; and now he felt bad for being an asshole to one. Now that he thought about it, Jisoo had always cheered him on; Jisoo had listened to and appreciated his band's songs, even went to the trouble of going to one of their live performances, no matter how awkward it was for him.

"Stop being all mopey, haven't we already talked about your feelings," Jihoon scolds him.

"I'm horrible," Jeonghan whimpers. "He must be mad at me."

"Then go apologize for whatever stupid thing you did," Jihoon says exasperatedly. "Don't make me talk about feelings again."

Jeonghan laughs at that. He and Jihoon were talent and manager; a purely business relationship, and a somewhat sour one at that. Jihoon was always doing reckless things and bossing them around and being a fun-sized bundle of meanness in general, but tonight he had listened to Jeonghan's bitching and was something like a friend to him. 

"Jihoonie."

They've just parked the car at Jihoon's apartment complex. "Yeah?" Jihoon asks as he's bending down to get the liquor from the back seat. He yelps when Jeonghan gives him a tight hug. "What the fuck!!" he sputters, pushing Jeonghan away violently. The long-haired man staggers but laughs and helps him with the shopping bags anyway.

"Just... thanks, I guess," Jeonghan laughs. "You give good advice."

Jihoon looks away and Jeonghan notices how pink his ears look. "That's why you should listen to what I always say," he mumbles, but there's a little smile playing at the ends of his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Talk to me on twitter! @jihoonielove :)


	14. you're cute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> omg i didn't think i'd be updating this EVER but here is a mediocre chapter with no development whatsoever that im not rly proud of

He can’t sleep.

Jisoo kept thinking about how Jeonghan lashed out on him. He didn’t mind that Jeonghan took his frustration out on him, but he felt bad that he couldn’t make Jeonghan feel any better about his band’s short air time. He personally thought Cherry Burst did great, but for someone who worked as hard as Jeonghan, he probably wanted his efforts to be recognized more.

So Jisoo tossed and turned in his bed, trying to count sheep but always ending up pondering what he could have said, until his phone rings and it’s Jeonghan.

“Hey, sorry about a while ago and please let me say sorry by buying you drinks,” Jeonghan says in one breath. “Jihoon is paying though.”

“Huh?” Jisoo could understand the sorry part but he’s rarely invited out to drink. He doesn’t really drink in general.

“Can you come over to my manager’s place? We’re celebrating that tv appearance I was moping about but now I’m happy about it. Please?”

Jisoo can’t find it in his heart to say no. At least Jeonghan was feeling happier than before and he wasn’t lashing out on Jisoo. Jeonghan texts him an address and he quickly gets dressed to go out.

-

Jisoo doesn’t drink and being around people who were already tipsy was kind of awkward at first, but Jihoon was nice enough to agree that he couldn’t drink if he was to drive home afterwards, and gave him soda and food instead. Jeonghan whined at him the whole time that he was boring and no fun.

Jeonghan’s bandmates were actually great people, and Jisoo found himself warming up to them and even cracking a few awkward jokes of his own, which they somehow found funny and made Jisoo like them even more. They were actually pretty normal, despite the overly sexual nature of their band.

He’s only been there for about an hour and Jeonghan’s already passed out on the couch. Jisoo noticed that the couple, Mingyu and Wonwoo, were being a little touchy before they excused themselves and went home after, and that Jihoon hadn’t come back after ‘going to get more drinks’ and Jun followed him soon after, so he decided that he should be getting home soon too.

"Hey, I think I'll go now," Jisoo told the band manager, who was sitting on the kitchen counter with Junhui standing beside him dangerously close. Jisoo bowed to them and smiled politely. "Thanks for having me."

Jihoon nodded. He still looked sober, despite his cheeks looking a little pink and how he wasn't minding Jun sniffing his neck. "Can you give that guy a ride home though?" he asked, nodding to the doorway, where the couch could be seen, Jeonghan lying with his face down against the armrest.

"Uh, sure." He was going to tell Jihoon that he didn't know where Jeonghan lived, but right after Jihoon was assured that his apartment would be Jeonghan-less in a few minutes he had proceeded to pull Junhui into a rather passionate kiss (were they even dating? Jisoo had no idea, they didn't seem that close). Jisoo stood there watching them awkwardly for a while, cheeks red, then decided that he just couldn't interrupt them and that he would just try to wake up Jeonghan to get his address.

As if on cue, Jihoon spoke out before he could leave the kitchen. "Wait, I forgot to give you his address." He pushed Junhui away unceremoniously, casually hopping off the counter, hair messy and lips puffier than they had been a while ago. Junhui stared after him, the look of lust in his eyes making Jisoo feel sorry for interrupting them (even though he didn't really). Jihoon found an old receipt and scribbled an address in a rather steady hand before handing it to Jisoo. "If you see a really shitty apartment complex, that's it," he explained. Jisoo nodded dumbly before scrambling out of the kitchen, not wanting to interrupt in what he deemed as private moments.

-

"Why do I always have to take care of you when you're drunk?" Jisoo asked as he adjusted Jeonghan's weight on his back, not a hint of spite in his voice. He didn't dislike it at all, having Jeonghan rely on him like this. It was almost kind of nice. He just wondered how he kept getting into the same situation.

"Why do you keep taking care of me when I'm drunk?" Jeonghan slurred back, lazily nudging the back of Jisoo's head with his forehead.

The four am air felt cold on his cheeks, but carrying Jeonghan warmed Jisoo's back and nape. Sometimes a gust of wind would blow Jeonghan's hair to his face, tickling his nose, but overall it was comfortable.

Jeonghan's already asleep once they reach Jisoo's car. Like the first time they met, Jisoo hauled him into the front seat, making sure he was buckled in tight and that his head was cushioned against the plush seat comfortably.

Jisoo is familiar with the place Jihoon wrote down as Jeonghan's address, having passed it several times. He sees a dilapidated old building and wonders if that was what Jihoon meant by "shitty". He parked in front of it and gently shook Jeonghan's shoulders.

"Hey, we're here. This is your place, isn't it?" Jisoo asked him softly.

Jeonghan opened his eyes for a second before closing them again and grumbling back a yes. He groggily got up and latched on to Jisoo’s arm to steady himself.

Luckily, Jeonghan just lived on the second floor and had no trouble getting there when he was drunk like right now. After they went up the creaky stairs (Jisoo wondered if it was even safe), Jeonghan fished out his house keys, which were attached to a giraffe keyholder that Jisoo found rather endearing. He handed them to Jisoo lazily, like he couldn’t be bothered to open the door to his own home.

Jeonghan’s room is almost completely empty. There was only a mattress on the floor, a small refrigerator, a pile of clothes (were they clean or for laundry?), a clothes rack with some of Jeonghan’s costumes and some convenience store’s uniform (did he work part-time?), and a guitar case. It didn’t look like a very happy or comfortable place to be living in, and Jisoo immediately felt grateful for the place his parents bought him with their savings.

Jeonghan plops down to the mattress facedown immediately and Jisoo makes sure to cover him with the thin blanket he finds near the mattress. Jeonghan rolls over, smiling with his eyes still closed. “I know why you always take care of me when I’m drunk,” he says. “Because I’m cute.”

Jisoo chuckles at that from where he’s seated beside Jeonghan on the floor.

“That’s always why everything good happens,” he continued babbling sleepily. “Getting people to watch me perform, getting people to listen to me sing. Only because I’m cute. Even if my band’s songs are good, if I was ugly I’d be nothing.”

Jisoo rarely went out to drink so he had little to no experience dealing with drunk people, but he often heard that alcohol made people more honest. Jeonghan had always appeared to be so confident and to hear him speak about hidden insecurities so honestly made Jisoo feel terrible.

“That’s not true,” Jisoo replied quietly. “You’re cute, but your looks are not the only good thing about you. You’re passionate, you work hard for the things you want, your singing voice is beautiful. And you’re the only guy I know who manages to pull off wearing lingerie.” It’s kind of embarrassing to compliment Jeonghan like this, but Jisoo wants to assure him in his own awkward way.

Jeonghan’s already fast asleep, Jisoo noted, and he’s a little thankful that he didn’t hear him say all those embarrassing things. He gets up to leave but hears Jeonghan giggle.

“Jisoo thinks I’m cute.”

“Yeah.” Jisoo smiles at him from the doorway, switching off the light. Of all the compliments Jisoo gave him, for some reason it was still the cute comment that made him happy. “Yeah, I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ps i added junhoon. jihoon was supposed to end up with seungcheol in this fic but eh idk


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